ONE of the region's only surviving wartime Victoria Cross heroes will be spared the indignity of standing in a disused flower bed for an emotional veterans' parade.

Captain Richard Annand was the first soldier awarded the Victoria Cross during the Second World War.

The Durham Light Infantry officer took on the Germans armed only with hand grenades, and rescued a comrade from behind enemy lines.

But the 89-year-old and his Royal British Legion colleagues have conceded they are no match for council red tape.

Capt Annand is to take the salute at a parade by the British Legion in Consett, County Durham, to mark the dedication of its new banner.

But the group has been forced to change the route of its march, after learning it would have to pay more than £1,000 for official road closures. Without a closure, the parade will have to go through Consett's pedestrianised zone of Middle Street.

Consett Royal British Legion (RBL) branch secretary Tommy Armstrong said: "In the past, the salute has always been taken from the church steps as we march down the road. But we can't march down the road this time, so we have to find some other way of elevating the captain.

"We were looking at one of the disused flower beds, but one of our members has found a platform that is suitable."

The RBL branch is replacing its 50-year-old standard with a version that is lighter and easier to carry.

It will be paraded for the last time through the centre of Consett on Sunday, June 27, at 3.30pm, before the new standard is consecrated at the town's Christ Church.

Problems emerged after Durham County Council insisted that, for road closures, a traffic management study must be commissioned from an independent company, costing hundreds of pounds.

"To be honest, it has been a big headache from start to finish," said Mr Armstrong.

A spokesman for Durham County Council said it would have concerns about parades where road closures were not properly managed.

Capt Annand received the VC for outstanding gallantry.

In May 1940, his platoon took on a German force on a bridge near Brussels, Belgium. When they ran out of bullets, he drove the enemy back with hand grenades, and later went back behind enemy lines and rescued his injured batman in a wheelbarrow.