OLD soldiers need to find another new home for the giant stone they hoped to use as a second war memorial.

They have been told by Wigan Council they will have to pursue a listed building application for an additional monument in the Church Street Memorial gardens which have grade 2 listed status and lie within the Leigh town centre conservation area.

Members of the Leigh Royal British Legion branch were awarded the four feet high, two tonnes piece of Whitkirk stone, which once adorned the entrance to Leigh's Asda, after the store appealed for a worthy home for its unwanted landmark last year.

The Legionnaires planned to move it to the gardens complete with a plaque remembering the servicemen and women who have died since WW2, but some members were against the scheme claiming it would conflict with the white war memorial, a replica of the Cenotaph in London.

A letter from Wigan's planning department says an additional monument within the memorial garden would have an impact on the listed war memorial, particularly as the Cenotaph is set in a central position that allows uninterrupted views from all directions, and it would destroy the symmetry of the gardens.

They add that the proposal is unlikely to be looked on favourably. The stone does not match the existing memorial, the design does not match its classical design and there is no appropriate site in the gardens where it could be placed so it would not have an effect on the appearance of the gardens.

Leigh branch British Legion chairman, Bob Watson, said: "The original plans are not looking too good.. It could be auctioned or reduced in size and placed in Asda's garden of remembrance."