A MAN who fought his parish council for four years to get a permanent war memorial on the village green has won his battle.

Keith Brooks even became a member of Horspath Parish Council himself to persuade members to erect a stone tribute on land which the council owns.

He says the whole village has always been behind him, including Second World War veteran John West, pictured here, but some on the council seemed to fight his plans for reasons which were never clear.

In 2014 the council even threatened to call the police when Mr Brooks wanted to put a homemade, temporary memorial on the green for Remembrance Sunday.

But this month, Mr Brooks's battle was finally won when the council voted to approve the principle of a permanent structure on the green.

Now, the grandson of First World War hero Edward Brooks says they just need to get it installed in time for Remembrance Sunday this November.

Mr Brooks, 70, said: "I think it was worth it: the members of public at the meeting were all smiles.

"I always felt it was important that everybody remembers what these people sacrificed for other people's freedom.

"It's especially important for the children to learn about it and understand it because that is the only way we are likely to prevent another world war.

"I wanted something on show every day of the week where people could see it."

The memorial discussed at Tuesday's meeting was something in Portland limestone with a simple plaque on it.

Mr Brooks, who previously got a quote for such an edifice, said it should cost about £5,000.

His one gripe, he said, was that the location which councillors discussed – 'behind some trees' – would not be as visible as he would like.

However that and other details are set to be discussed further at the next full council meeting in February.

The former digger driver added: "At least it's on the green. Now we've just got to keep going to get it there for November."

When Mr Brooks announced his plans to put his own homemade memorial on the green in 2014, Horspath Parish Council, which even then said it was planning its own official tribute, said any 'unauthorised' memorial would be removed.

It said if Mr Brooks did lay his tribute, it would be a criminal offence under the 1869 Inclosure Act and it had informed the police of his 'confrontational intentions'.

In the end Mr Brooks did take his memorial onto the green without any interference.

His grandfather, SGT Major Edward Brooks, of the Oxfordshire & Buckinghamshire Light Infantry, was one of only two soldiers in that regiment to win a Victoria Cross in the First World War.

He earned it by capturing a German machine gun at Fayet in France on April 28, 1917, and turning it on the enemy.