New plaque for park where mural was painted-over

The council said permission for the remembrance mural, painted in 2018, had never been given

A memorial plaque is to be installed in a West Sussex park to honour those from the area who died during the First World War.

Crawley Borough Council's decision comes after a petition signed by 300 people demanded it reinstate a war mural in Tilgate Park's walled garden that was painted over.

A community focal point commemorating 100 years since WWI's end, the mural had been deemed "beyond proper restoration".

Chris Mullins, cabinet member for leisure & well-being, hoped the new plaque would provide "a satisfactory conclusion to this whole situation".

According to the Local Democracy Reporting Service, he described the walled garden as not having been the right place for a mural in the first place.

Mullins also said that the council was liaising with local veterans about the proposed plaque and any "future needs" they might have.

However, it was also announced that the petition's other request - that £10,000 of councillors' allowance budget be donated to a local armed forces charity by way of an apology - would not be happening.

Conservative group leader Duncan Crow defended the council's support for veterans, such as delivering an Armed Forces Day event every year since 2013, being part of the Crawley Civil Military Partnership board and awarding almost £2,000 to the Crawley and Horsham Armed Forces and Veterans Breakfast Club.

Councillor Crow added that the council needed to learn from the experience and be more upfront about its decisions.