LEAVING a township off a memorial map to the sacrifice of local First World War volunteer soldiers has been branded a symbol of Hyndburn Council’s failed approach to its new £3million Accrington Town Square.

Senior Conservative councillors Tony Dobson and Michael Miller are furious that Rishton was not included on the granite artwork behind a new bench to commemorate the Accrington Pals battalion which saw 235 soldiers killed and 350 wounded in the first half hour of the 1916 Battle of the Somme.

Now they want the council to employ a mason to add the township – reputed to have lost more residents than any other – next to Great Harwood, Clayton-le-Moors, Huncoat, Church, Accrington and Oswaldtwistle.

Hyndburn borough leader Cllr Miles Parkinson said the map on the granite slab was never meant to be a comprehensive geographical record but was a graphic representation and that Rishton’s contribution would be fully marked in an accompanying exhibition in the town hall.

Cllr Miller, who represents the township, said: “This is an example of Hyndburn Council’s ill-conceived and poorly-executed approach to the new town square.

“This failure is disrespectful to the people of Rishton who lost their lives and their families.

“They should employ a mason to put the township on the map.”

Council Conservative group leader Cllr Dobson said: “Cllr Parkinson should own up to the mistake and get a mason to correct it.

“We now want to get behind the town square and make it a success but this is an example of how the project was originally ill-thought out and is now being poorly-executed.”.

Cllr Parkinson said: “The artwork portrays all of the Pals battalions and there was never any intention to include every single Hyndburn township. It was designed with the help of volunteers and historians. There will be a separate exhibition in the town hall in which Rishton will be fully represented.

“The square is not finished, but work is going well with the installation of planters, the lighting scheme and sculptures to add to the ambience. It is on track for the official opening on November 11, the centenary of the end of the First World War. “