THESE “mudlarks” had fun on The Piazza in Huddersfield.

But while their frolics brought a smile to the faces of passers-by, it did not go down too well with Kirklees Council officials.

They ordered a Huddersfield artist to remove the mannequins, which he had placed in the muddy mess.

The artist, who does not want to be named, staged the stunt to draw attention to the sorry state The Piazza is in at the moment.

It has been left looking like a ploughed field after the removal of the Christmas ice-rink and council officials are still waiting to start work to repair the damage.

Earlier this month, the council blamed drainage problems for the delay.

Bad weather and heavy machinery used to remove the ice rink have left the spot in a mess.

Kirklees Council have apologised to the public about the conditions of the ground.

The artist, who had the mannequins for an art project, said: “It was to draw attention to the mess that is currently The Piazza.

“If it was in any other town or city, it would have been sorted in days rather than weeks.

“A friend of mine runs a shop in Huddersfield and was told off by council officials for leaving things stacked on the pavement outside while he had some decorating work done.

“It seemed a bit hypocritical of them when The Piazza has been left in such a mess so we thought up the mudlark idea.

“We had the models there for about an hour until we were told we had to move them. We had hoped the Kirklees official would wade into the mud to retrieve them but it was left to us.

“Everyone else who saw them thought it was hilarious and many people captured them on their mobile phones.

“Who knows, we may repeat this in the future – it’s guerrilla art.”

A council spokesman said: “We believe there is a suspected broken drain underneath the Piazza.

“As soon as the rest of the site is dry enough we will be on site to hand dig test holes to find the broken drain and repair it.

“Once this is done and the site has dried it only needs half an hour with the grass seeder to finish the job”.