VETERANS and their supporters will soon be able to fly the Union Jack flag next to a community's war memorial.

Members of Grewelthorpe Royal British Legion asked the church council at St James's Parish Church, near Ripon, for permission to erect a 25ft flagpole.

But although members of the church council voted unanimously in favour of the plan, it had to clear a series of legal rulings by the church authorities.

But a spokesman for the church said the deadline for any objections had passed this week and the idea was awaiting final clearance from the Ripon and Leeds Diocese.

An architect said his only concern was the close proximity of the flagpole to overhead electricity cables serving the church.

But the problem has been overcome by the suggestion that a demountable flagpole with a tilt away from the wires for maintenance purposes be installed.

Planning permission was not needed from Harrogate Borough Council because only the Union Jack flag was being flown. Use of other flags would have needed a planning application.

The flag will be flown on special occasions, including Remembrance Day.

The war memorial was not erected in the churcyard until 1993. The Yorkshire sandstone memorial carries a plaque commemorating Grewelthorpe's two victims of the great wars.

One, Second Lieutenant William George Leathley, 20, of the Somerset Light Infantry, died during the First World War in the Battle of the Somme and Private Leonard Lonsdale, died in Italy while serving with the Sherwood Foresters in the Second World War.