A LEADING town councillor has pledged in public to get Ledbury's leaning and "sinking" war memorial refurbished and repaired by next year's 100th anniversary of the end of the First World War.

Not only does the war memorial have a "slight lean", the stones of its base are below the pavement line and are corroding, due to rainwater.

Cllr Martin Eager, chairman of the town's environment committee believes that unless action is taken, the monument could eventually fall down.

Cllr Eager pledged to get the war memorial fixed at last week's annual town council meeting in the community hall, when he said: "The 100th anniversary of the end of the First World War is approaching, and we are no nearer to preventing further damage to our war memorial. My frustration cannot be over-stated.

"No matter what position I will hold in the future, I will make it by business to get the work finished by November, 2018, and that's a promise."

But Herefordshire Council say it is not just a matter of launching a programme of repairs and refurbishments.

A spokesman said: "Herefordshire Council, working in partnership with Balfour Beatty Living Places, are continuing to work with Ledbury Town Council to ensure the war memorial is maintained in a good condition.

“As the memorial is a listed monument, any works must be carefully considered and approved by the necessary authorities. Several options are currently being evaluated for its repair and ongoing maintenance to ensure the longevity of the monument.”

But Cllr Eager said: "The repairs have nothing to do with Herefordshire Council and it's down to Ledbury Town Council, because it is owned by us."

However, Cllr Eager said the cobbles and pavement around the memorial, in the High Street, are the responsibility of Herefordshire Council and its contractor, Balfour Beatty, and it is there that a major problem has arisen, because rain water is pooling in the gaps around the base.

Cllr Eager said: "The base is corroding. It's degenerating quite badly, and work would involve replacing the stone."

While the monument is not actually sinking into the pavement, it appears to be, and Cllr Eager added: "It can only get worse. If so, the stone will deteriorate further and eventually, it will fall down. It cannot be allowed to get that bad."

Cllr Eager stressed there was no prospect of the memorial falling down in the immediate future, and "the slight lean" was probably down to it being clipped by a lorry, around 30 years ago.

But he added: "Problems with war memorial stem from successive road and pavement 'improvements' where the level has become higher than the base of the memorial, and so causing considerable damage

"Unfortunately, neither Balfour Beatty nor Herefordshire Council will admit any responsibility or come up with any workable solutions."

Cllr Eager added: "This is why we are now forced to hire in a private contractor at our expense to get the work done, on top of the actual refurbishment costs."

The first talks with this contractor took place last week, although the likely costs are still to be made public.

Cllr Eager said the separate refurbishment costs, for work including re-gilding, cleaning and re-pointing, would cost in the region of £10,000 to £15,000.

He added that he was hopeful that a grant could be found for this refurbishment work.