PERSHORE Town Council has voted in favour of paying more than £2,500 to have an old coat of arms transferred back into its possession.

It will cost the council £2,685 to have the old Pershore Rural District Council coat of arms returned and additional charges are likely to be incurred in the future if it is redesigned and a new pendant for the mayor’s chain is commissioned.

The crest was transferred to Wychavon District Council from Pershore RDC during local government reorganisation in 1974. However that year the new Wychavon District Council had a new coat of arms designed and the previous shield was not used again.

Town councillors said they thought it would be a good thing to do in the Queen’s Jubilee year.

Coun Chris Parsons said: “We have kicked this round for about eight years and it was only a few hundred pounds then. I think it is time we bit the bullet and did it. Every year the cost goes up. We have always had the idea to adopt this.”

The coat of arms is currently held by the College of Arms in London – the body that Pershore Town Council needs to pay to re-acquire it.

While 10 councillors voted in favour of adopting the coat of arms, other members felt it was dated and needed a redesign.

Others expressed the view that it wasn’t worth paying for at all.

Coun Derek Watt said: “It seems to me that as it was designed many years ago it would be useful that the town council have it for historical value. I think we need something more modern.”

Coun Val Wood said: “This to me does not represent Pershore and I think we should be concentrating our money on the library.”