A war veteran's campaign to remember fallen WWII soldiers’ sacrifices on a permanent memorial is entering its final phase.

William Quattrucci, 84, of Clockhouse, has been campaigning since the end of WWII to have his brother Sidney's name added to the Carshalton War Memorial.

Relatives of soldiers have joined him to call for 270 men who died fighting in WWII to be included.

But a string of delays have meant they are still waiting for the names to be added on a new additional memorial.

But at a meeting on Tuesday, May 24, Carshalton and Clockhouse councillors, Mr Quattrucci and other residents finally agreed on the form the memorial should take.

Final plans are now being created for two pillars to be added to Carshalton's memorial gardens, and the council is "hopeful" construction will begin by the end of the year.

Some £35,000 has been set aside by the council to pay for it, and businesses have also offered to assist with financing it.

The council has said the funds should be sufficient to finance the memorials, and there will be no more delays to the plans.

Mr Quattrucci said: "I am pleased we have agreed on what form the memorial should take but I have been promised things before which have then been renaged on."

"Now I want to see it happen."

Plans to update the war memorial were almost dropped by the council in January this year, because of a lack of finance.

But it agreed to continue with the plans after outcry from residents.

Councillor Hamish Pollock, chairman of the Carshalton and Clockhouse local committee, said: “We have already begun to gather pricing estimates, and we are very hopeful that the work can be carried out within our budget.

"We are eager to begin work as soon as possible, and will feed back cost estimates to residents at the next local committee meeting on July 19.

"This will allow us to agree all the plans, and we believe that subject to obtaining various statutory approvals that we need to get, construction work will hopefully be underway later in the year.”