LAMPETER town councillors and Ceredigion County Council are involved in a battle over the future of the town’s war memorial.

Town councillors are angry, having had their request for a transfer of ownership of the memorial rejected.

Matters came to a head after it was revealed the county council would no longer pay the annual sum of around £4,000 towards bedding plants and general maintenance.

Having had their request for a transfer of ownership rejected, disappointed town councillors have accused County Hall of back-tracking.

They felt such a transfer would guarantee the future of the memorial gardens instead of leaving the site in the hands of an authority which they point out could disappear if local government reorganisation becomes a reality following May’s Welsh Assembly elections.

“We are disappointed Ceredigion County Council has turned us down flat,” Cllr Elsie Dafis told the Cambrian News.

“Towards the end of my mayoral term we had a meeting with Ceredigion, who were very keen for us to take over the gardens – now they have changed their minds completely.

Cllr Dafis said she suspected that the presence of a substantial memorial gardens trust fund may have influenced the local authority’s change-of-heart.

Pictured at the memorial garden are mayor Cllr Chris Thomas, Cllr Elsie Dafis and Cllr Dave Smith, deputy mayor and Vice Chairman of the Royal British Leagion, Lampeter Branch.