Abingdon's tilting war memorial is not in danger of falling down, say engineers.

Six months ago, it was revealed that the 81-year-old monument in The Square was leaning.

The town council called in consulting engineers who, at a cost of £4,000, carried out an extensive underground radar survey of the area.

Their report found the monument was stable but recommended on-going monitoring of the structure, to find out whether it was continuing to move.

The survey said the tilt could be due to the monument being constructed over the edge of an underground chamber or storage tank, which may be providing better support than the surrounding ground.

The large underground chamber, towards Bath Street, measures 3.5m x 3.5m and has reinforced concrete roof slabs and walls about 50cm thick.

The engineers report says that ownership of the tank should be established and its condition checked. It said reinforced concrete inspection covers to the chamber should be lifted to try to determine its function.

Town council clerk Nigel Warner said: "The important fact is that the war memorial is stable.

"It is safe and the council will not have to spend a lot of money in carrying out underground works.

"It has been given a clean bill of health and, as recommended in the report, we will carry out an annual insp- ection.

"Next year, we will try to find out more about the underground chamber and any pipes entering it and will test the strength of load bearing materials around the base."

Next year, the memorial will undergo an extensive cleaning programme.

Town councillor Peter Green said: "That will involve scaffolding and could cost as much as £5,000."