A MYSTERY surrounding the ownership of Budleigh Salterton s war memorial is preventing it from being cleaned.

A MYSTERY surrounding the ownership of Budleigh Salterton's war memorial is preventing it from being cleaned.

The town council has agreed the stone memorial needs sprucing up, but the work is on hold until ownership is established.

The cleaning work is expected to cost �2,000 - and the council will approach the War Memorials Trust for help with funding.

Budleigh Salterton Town Council clerk Jo Vanstone said she was in the process of determining who owns the memorial, which stands at the top of Marine Parade.

The clerk said she would be approaching East Devon District Council - and also Clinton Devon Estates because the monument stands near its land.

Mrs Vanstone said it was unlikely the cleaning would be carried out in time for next month's Remembrance Day service.

She said: "It's not on any documents and it's not on any insurance schedule.

"The town council agrees it needs to be cleaned, but we don't want to pay for it at the moment because we feel we want to find out who is responsible for it.

"The war memorial was purchased by public subscription, where people of the town put money towards it, so technically the people of the town own it.