THE town council has rejected a proposal to remove the railings and seating from around a war memorial in Cirencester.

Val Moss, a resident of the town, had contacted the Standard after hearing rumours that the memorial outside the Parish Church would be modified, calling the idea “outrageous”.

“It is a memorial not a seat,” she said. “People of this town had their lives taken in two world wars so we could live in peace.

“It should be respected, not used as a meeting place for drug dealing or lounging around on.

“Let the people of the town know that this is in the pipeline so we can have our say and voice our concerns,” she added.

However, at a town council meeting last Tuesday, deputy mayor Cllr Patrick Coleman assured that it was an idea that had quickly been dropped.

Cllr Roly Hughes said he and the council had been sent an email by the Royal British Legion last Monday about the matter.

“The Civic Society wanted to take the railings away and the seating area,” he said.

"I was strongly against that because it's a war memorial and the CEO [Andrew Tubb] told me that nothing is going to be done with them.

“They are staying where they are.”

Cllr Coleman commended Cllr Hughes for “being quick on the draw”.

"It's a good example of being quick on the draw, when you spot something you don't like and indeed the reply from Mr Tubb was something along the lines of 'it was just an idea and it's already been withdrawn',” he said.

“And that sounds very satisfactory.

"So we won't hear anymore about that, I don't think," he added.