DEPUTY mayor Stewart Dobson has been told the site he owns beside the war memorial is an eyesore and should be tidied up before Remembrance Day.

A partly demolished brick wall on the former garage site, which forms a backdrop to the cenotaph, has prompted complaints that it detracts from the appearance of the memorial.

Coun Dobson and his brother in law, town Mayor Maurice Cooper, both left the council chamber for the discussion and Coun Joan Evans was appointed as acting chairman.

Coun Bill Cavill told the council: "On Sunday week we will all be on parade around the war memorial. We had hoped the new wall would be there in time for this year's parade.

"My view is that we have rather an eyesore behind the memorial and the wall is not very pretty the way it has been pulled down."

He suggested that a temporary screen should be put up before the Poppy Day parade. "It would provide a far better background to the memorial than what is there how.

"Everybody has to stand facing that way and looking at the eyesore."

Coun Evans said: "It was like it last year and I can't see there is a great deal we can do for this year without spending a lot of money on it.

"We hope that by early next year, 2001, the new wall will be up. This eyesore is coming to an end."

Coun Derek Smithers asked how negotiations were proceeding with Coun Dobson to allow the council to build the proposed new feature wall behind the memorial, which it is estimated could cost as much as £50,000.

Coun Evans said tenders were out for the new wall but added: "There is a small problem with the party wall and the owner of the land which we have to resolve before we can proceed.

"It is not progressing as fast as we would like."

Details of the problem with the wall's owner have not yet been made public.

There was unanimous support from the council when Coun Cavill moved that the council asks the owner of the garage to tidy the site up before the Remembrance Day parade.

Coun Dobson later said he would be asking his tenants, London based BNN Ltd, to tidy up the site before the Poppy Day parade.

He said he had referred correspondence over the wall to BNN but added; "I suppose at the end of the day is is to do with me as the land owner."

Following the council meeting a spokesman for Marlborough Royal British Legion said the suggestion of a temporary camouflage screen behind the memorial was already under consideration.