Plans have now been submitted for restoration work to Axminster's war memorial, with the hope the project will be complete in time for Remembrance Day.

Axminster Town Council has submitted a planning application to East Devon District Council, requesting permission to clean, re-cut damaged letters, reporting and patch the grade II listed war memorial in the Minster Green.

Following guidance from Historic England, a condition survey of the war memorial was carried out and found the listed structure to be generally in a relatively fair condition. However, it is not currently possible to read all of the inscriptions and names of the fallen, which means it is failing in its main purpose.

The war memorial has gained a build-up of dirt and lichen over the years and some of the lettering is now badly deteriorated. The town council does not consider that this reflects well on the importance placed on the sacrifice of local people in previous conflicts.

It is proposed to clean the whole memorial, re-cut areas of damaged letters, and repoint and patch where necessary, with specialist monumental masons A.W. Brooker and Son being consulted on the works.

The decision to refurbish the memorial came after former Mayor of Axminster and East Devon councillor Paul Hayward requested that the town council consider it.

The council would like the work to be completed by Remembrance Day and is proposing it be carried out in the week leading up to November 11. It has therefore requested that East Devon consider the application as quickly as possible.

You can view the full planning application on the East Devon District Council planning website.