AN emphatic result came from last week's parish poll in Okehampton — people in the town want the war memorial to stay right where it is.

Voting in the poll last Thursday resulted in 71 people wanting the memorial moved from its position in All Saints churchyard — and 180 voting to keep it there.

Ray Rattenbury, chairman of the Okehampton branch of the Royal British Legion, said: 'The public had their chance to express their views — they voted in favour of it staying and we accept that.'

The Royal British Legion branch first raised the subject of moving the war memorial to a more central position in the town some 25 years ago.

The decision to hold a parish poll to find out the true feeling of the people of Okehampton came at the annual town meeting last month.

Mr Rattenbury said it was a low turnout — 5.75 per cent of the electorate — but they had to accept the views of the people who voted on the day.

'It is sad but it is democracy,' he said. 'It has been talked about for many years and now we have had a referendum and we must abide by that.'

The RBL branch felt the war memorial should be more accessible especially for the people attending the Remembrance Day parade, many of whom were war veterans and are now quite frail.

But the vicar of All Saints Parish Church, the Rev Russell Chamberlain, said the people of the town made the decision to site the memorial in the churchyard many years ago and it was significant to many that it was on consecrated ground.

The Rev Paul Fitzpatrick, curate of Okehampton, said throughout the church there was a quiet satisfaction but members also felt for those people who had a genuine reason for wanting the memorial moved.

'It is definitely not a flag waving exercise — we are not triumphant,' he said.

'People are pleased that the war memorial is staying — it means a lot to them. There are those who work in the church whose fathers' names are on the war memorial.

'But there are members of our own church who are also members of the Royal British Legion who felt for a number of reasons it would be good to move it. We feel we need to be supportive of those who held the other view.'

Cllr Christine Marsh, mayor of Okehampton, said she hoped people would be content that the council had done its best to give the community a chance to put forward their views on the subject.

'The majority of people who spoke to me said they felt the people who put the war memorial in the churchyard did it for a reason and they respected that and felt that the families of the people who died were happy with it there,' she said.

Parish polls to decide issues such as this are unusual but town clerk John Winchester said he could see them being used more in the future.

'A parish poll is conclusive,' he said. 'With a consultation process, there is always a way to come back and argue but with something like this for those who bothered to turn out there is a conclusion.'

He said if the issue warranted it, a poll could happen again in Okehampton but the council would have to think about it long and hard because it cost £1,000 a time.

'The war memorial is a very, very emotive issue for a lot of people for different reasons and therefore I think a poll was the right way to go about it this time.'