OTLEY Town Council has agreed to take on responsibility for maintaining the Navvies Memorial.

The Grade II Listed monument is in urgent need of repair but efforts to secure the funds needed have been complicated due to it currently having no identified owner.

Town councillors agreed at a Policy and Resources Committee meeting on Monday to both lead a fundraising push to get the repairs done and to make a longer-term commitment.

Chairman Councillor Ray Georgeson (Lib Dem, Danefield) said: "I am delighted that the town council has unanimously agreed to step up and seek to resolve the outstanding issues surrounding the Navvies Memorial - and lead the fundraising drive to secure the rest of the necessary money to complete a full restoration.

"In addition, the council's signal that we are willing to acquire the long-term maintenance responsibility for the memorial is welcome news.

"This process may well still take some time as money has to be raised, legal questions still have to be resolved and Leeds City Council's conservation staff have to be consulted.

"But we are heading in a good direction and can now look forward to the memorial being rightfully restored, paying proper respect to those that it commemorates, and becoming again an important feature of Otley's history and heritage."

Based on Church Lane, the historic monument is a replica of the entrance to Bramhope railway tunnel and was built in tribute to the 23 men who were killed building it.