VETERANS today hit out at a cash-strapped council for refusing to inscribe their fallen comrade's name on a town's war memorial.

Hyndburn Borough Council, which is trying to fill a £800,000 hole in its finances, said adding the inscription was unnecessary work which it could not carry out until the next financial year.

The stance has angered the family of Great Harwood-born Marine Robert Anthony Clark, who was killed in 1951 but never had his name added to the list of dead heroes on the town's cenotaph.

The local branch of the Royal British Legion contacted the borough council in October to ask for the name to be added, but say they were told by parks department bosses that the work would not be done until the new financial year, as it was classed as unnecessary.

Now the cash-strapped council has revealed the project could take until November of this year to be done.

Robert's brother George Clark, of Grimshaw Street said: "I would like to see his name on there. It's a long time since he died and he did die fighting for his country.

"Since they have put other people on from later conflicts, why shouldn't he be there?"

Robert died on November 28 1951 when he was shot in a friendly fire accident after a patrol in Malaya, near Singapore. The family say the Royal Marine had finished a patrol in the jungle, during a four-year campaign against communism, when a friend shot him in the stomach while cleaning his rifle.

Great Harwood's memorial has names of the dead from the First and Second World Wars, the Falklands and Korea, but there is no mention of Robert.

Both the council and British Legion members say they have no idea why Robert's name was never included following his death.

His sister Glenis Duxbury, who works as a pre-school assistant at St Wulstan's in Great Harwood, said: "I think it's a bit disgusting. It should have been done years ago. He fought for his country so why shouldn't it be on?"

The Royal British Legion was contacted by a former friend of Robert's last year, who told them his name was not on the cenotaph, in Memorial Park.

Len Myerscough, chairman of the Great Harwood British Legion, said: "It's disgusting that a job like this has still not been done, even though it should have been done 50 years ago.

George Clark said: "Robert's death devastated my mother and she never got over it. He was her first child. It can't cost that much to have a name engraved."

Coun Brian Walmsley, portfolio holder for culture and leisure on Hyndburn Borough Council, said: "We fully acknowledge the importance of officially commemorating those men who gave their lives and we are committed to correcting this omission on the Cenotaph.

"Unfortunately, due to the current financial situation , we have had to delay the work until the new financial year. It is seen as a priority and will be actioned well in advance of the the next Remembrance Sunday on November 14."