ALGAE and deterioration have made Chepstow's cenotaph a shame, says an old soldier – a claim the town council angrily denies.

The war memorial in Beaufort Square, overlooked by the Chepstow branch of the Royal British Legion, has turned green in places, prompting Hector Barker to contact the council to ask if something could be done to restore it.

"At the very least they could get someone to clean up the plaque with the names on it," he said. "But when I asked they said they just did not have anyone to do the work. I am afraid it made me quite angry."

The retired man, formerly from New Zealand (he came over 33 years ago, "fell in love with the place," and has stayed ever since) said it was a shame that the memorial was in such a state.

"I couldn't even read who'd been lost," he said, adding that he himself had seen action and felt such memorials should be well looked-after as they were in many other parts of the world.

He had served with the Royal New Zealand Air Force in Guadacanal in the Pacific in 1942, fighting alongside British troops.

But Chepstow Town Clerk Brian Jones said a small council such as his simply did not have the resources to maintain the memorial on a regular basis. To some extent the wet winter had led to the present state of affairs.

"We have to be very careful – we can't just rush in and put all sorts of stuff on it. We have to call in specialist cleaners and that can be very expensive.

"We will probably be able to pay some attention to it when we put out flower boxes, but that won't be for some time yet.

"If the situation really was serious, the British Legion overlooks the memorial and I'm sure we'd hear from them."

Secretary of the Chepstow branch of the British Legion Maurice Cannaby said it was true the memorial was deteriorating.

"However, it all belongs to the town and is nothing to do with the Legion – we are not allowed to spend any money on it.

"I think the trouble started when it was cleaned some time ago and a surface layer was taken off allowing the weather to get in. It is a very fine memorial but the names should have been engraved rather than on a bronze plaque.

"I have been involved for some time about getting new names since the Second World War included – we have five, two from Northern Ireland, one from Aden and one from the Falklands.

"There has been some discussion on a replacement rather than restoration, on a new site by the old Westminster bank. I have been involved in discussions about this. It's for the future, with the reorganisation of the town.

"I can understand people being upset. But you can also understand the problem. I believe there is some sort of grant the council can get for restoring memorials, but I don't know if they've applied."

The steward of the British Legion club in Beaufort Square, Mike Johnson, agrees that the memorial is in a bad state – and he claimed the council's flower pots were part of the cause.

"It is very green in places," he said. "But if you have pots being watered every day and fertiliser being put on them, it just encourages the algae with the water running out over the stone all the time."