Cllr Richard Keeling, of Chudleigh Town Council, writes:

I am replying, on behalf of the town council to the letter from Mr Hellier Laing (MDA letters on October 17) regarding the war memorial in Chudleigh.

The letter does not give a true indication of the state of play on this issue and it is important, I think, that the facts are in the public domain.

The town council were approached by the Chudleigh & District Amenity Society in August asking that we consider having the war memorial cleaned. This is not as straightforward a request as it might appear as we were required to consult with the War Memorials Trust and the local conservation officer.

Such work requires specialist cleaning techniques and during August the town council gathered quotations from various contractors with the expertise to carry out this sort of work. A grant application was submitted to Devon Remembers in September. Devon Remembers operate a quarterly grant round system so that was the earliest that it could be submitted. The result of this application is now awaited.

The reality is that with the timing of the grant round it was never going to be possible to achieve the clean-up in time for Remembrance Sunday.

An added complication is created by the presence of a large stone obelisk within the war memorial enclosure. As this structure is unrelated to the honouring of the war dead it does not attract any grant support but to clean one structure and not the other is unlikely to be aesthetically pleasing. However, to clean the obelisk as well will cost the town council an additional £560. Understandably, councillors were unwilling to commit to the cleaning of the war memorial and obelisk until the financial commitment required is clear.

If the grant application is successful and for the full 75 per cent maximum then the cleaning of the war memorial would cost the council £930. If the grant application fails then the town council would need to find £3,223. This does not include the cost of cleaning the obelisk, which will add £560 to the final bill.

Until the financial commitment is clear it would be imprudent to make a final decision on whether or not to carry out the cleaning.    

On a personal note being an ex-service man, I have the deepest respect for those that have given their lives during all wars. Maybe Mr Hellier Laing would wish to donate financially to this worthy war memorial.

MORE LETTERS IN OUR DIGITAL EDITION