Locals 'outraged' at war memorial in disrepair

The council said contractors had difficulty moving the concrete base

Local residents are "outraged" after a war memorial was left in a state of disrepair following an unsuccessful attempt to relocate it.

The memorial, outside the former Cooper Tire & Rubber Company in Melksham, Wiltshire, is engraved with the names of 102 employees who died fighting in World War One and World War Two.

Melksham Town Council had plans to rescue the monument prior to the factory's demolition, which closed in December after 112 years in operation. But instead, it was uprooted in April and left "dumped" on the grass, after its concrete base proved "more substantial than expected".

The council said "matters are in hand" to relocate it to a local garden.

The memorial is engraved with the phrase: "In memory of Avon employees who fell in the service of their country"

Car tyre manufacturing at the Melksham site dated back to the 1890s.

During WW2, the company adapted to wartime production of inflatable rafts, pontoon bridges, lifesaving devices and waterproof bags.

The Cooper Tire & Rubber Company, formerly Avon Tyres, lost 74 employees in WW1 and 28 in WW2.

The council says it has plans to temporarily relocate the memorial to Queen Mary Garden on 24 September

It was agreed by councillors at an economic development and planning committee meeting in January to move the memorial into storage before deciding on its permanent location.

A spokesperson from the local authority said: "Unfortunately, when contractors attempted to remove the memorial from the ground, it was embedded with a more substantial base than was expected.

"Matters are in hand to relocate the memorial to the Queen Mary Garden so that it remains on view to former Cooper Tire & Rubber Company employees and the public, until Melksham Town Council makes a decision on its final location."

'It's undignified'

However, Mike Jackson, a veteran who served six years in the Army's Duke of Edinburgh's Royal Regiment, said leaving it in its current state was "disgraceful".

"We've got Remembrance Sunday coming up," he said.

"It almost makes you feel like they're just ticking boxes when they celebrate the day, because the rest of the year they don't seem to care.

"This is a monument to the workers who gave their lives during the wars, and it's just been dumped onto the grass with no due care or attention. It's undignified."

Mr Jackson said he would like to see the monument relocated to his place of work, Avon Protection, which previously owned Avon Tyres before it was sold to the Cooper Company.