Fury at £6k bill to store war memorial

Storage costs of £1,000-a-month for a Staffordshire war memorial has provoked anger from some quarters.

The memorial was dismantled in March when the culvert beneath it collapsed in Brook Square, Rugeley. The county council stored it up until last week when the plinth, fence and roll of honour were put up in Anson Street.

It was a temporary focal point for the Remembrance Sunday Parade.

The storage bill, which has reached £6,000 so far, is being picked up by the county council.

Rugeley businessman, Dave Westwood has criticised the county council and Cannock Chase Council for not repairing the culvert and reinstalling the memorial as fast as possible but wasting money by pursuing a water feature for the town centre which could have been spent on facilities like public toilets or bus shelters.

He said: "As far as I'm concerned the situation with the war memorial has been a farce. Any construction civil engineer could have put that memorial right back in Brook Square within a week.

"We don't need a water feature in the middle of town, we need facilities like public toilets. We don't need a stream which will be dumping ground for shopping trolleys and for people being sick in on a Friday and Saturday nights," he said.

With Severn Trent Water giving permission for the memorial to be sited in Anson Street above their sewer pipes, the council is looking to move the memorial there while keeping the brook as a water feature.

County, district and town councillor Danny Davies said the proposed water feature would be a tourist attraction for the town.

As to the costs of storage he said future storage costs could be passed onto Cannock council if permanent arrangements for the memorial were not made soon. The council is waiting for a written agreement from Severn Trent Water for permission to replace the memorial permanently.