Ledbury’s war memorial will be repaired “as soon as possible” no matter the outcome of legal wranglings over a previous restoration, the town council has said.
Work to repair the monument in High Street took place in 2020 following a £30,000 donation from former Lancaster bomber Stuart Heaton.
But by February 2021, cracks were appearing on the memorial and green mould was visible.
Wooden planters have since been placed around the base of the monument but residents have been unhappy at the length of time taken to rectify the problems.
A number of campaigners protested last month outside The Stone Workshop, the contractors who carried out the work in 2020.
Ledbury Town Council said it has been working with its solicitors in an attempt to ask The Stone Workshop to “make good the unsatisfactory repairs”.
“The council’s solicitors are in active dialogue with the contractor’s solicitors seeking to find a resolution,” the council said in a statement.
At an extraordinary council meeting on February 9, councillors agreed that repair work should be undertaken as a matter of priority. The council said that having obtained legal advice, “action is being taken to expedite these repairs irrespective of the outcome of the legal dialogue with the contractor’s solicitors”.
'It saddens me'
“The interest from members of the public in this emotive issue has been helpful and important. The council appreciates that members of the public have done their best to use their working life experience to make comments throughout the process.
“The council is committed to completing the restoration of the war memorial as soon as possible and we would like to thank members of the public for the time and attention they have given thus far.”
The council also pledged to keep members of the public informed with regular updates on the latest round of repairs.
Steve Ellis, an experienced construction site manager, prepared unofficial reports on the state of the memorial for the town council in October 2020 and April 2021, and helped organise last month’s protest.
He said: “I welcome the news that Ledbury Town Council intends to start the new restoration work to the war memorial as soon as possible, but it saddens me to see the state they have allowed the memorial to get into.
“I have a family member mentioned on the monument. It's all wrong. In my opinion, if the work had gone to a specialist conservation contractor like the ones recommended on The War Memorial Trust website, this mess would not have happened.”
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