Brentwood war memorials: Lib Dems call for listed status
Campaigning Liberal Democrats in Brentwood are calling for the Borough's war memorials to be included in the proposed thousands of British war memorials that are to be listed.
Only 1,300 are listed at the moment but the Goverment is tripling the number of monuments with the status to more than 3,800.
English Heritage have called on the public to nominate local memorials for listed status through English Heritage.
Warley Liberal Democrat Jill Hubbard, who has nominated the Great Warley War Memorial, also urged people to apply for a 5 million grant pot set aside to maintain them. Jill has applied for funding to assist with future maintenance of the war memorial.
She said: "War memorials are a special part of our heritage that keeps alive the ultimate sacrifice made by so many. This is really important to the community in Warley and needs to be protected for future generations"
Currently there are 16,000 war memorials, and another 75,00 plaques, benches and engraved paving stones commemorating our war heroes across the UK.
The vast majority of these are on common public land and as a result are not owned or maintained by individuals or councils.
Councillors Liz Cohen (Shenfield) and Philip Mynott (Brentwood North), who have nominated the war memorial on Shenfield Road for listing said: "Attending Remembrance Sunday service in Brentwood this year was a moving experience and a real privilege. It is important that we gather to pay our respects to our armed forces who gave their lives for our country.
As there is now a proposal to protect our war memorials and get them listed, we want to see our war memorials in Brentwood included. We encourage everyone in our Borough who care about remembering our war heroes to join the campaign to protect our war memorials".
SIGN THE WARLEY PETITION HERE
SIGN THE SHENFIELD ROAD PETITION HERE