Restoration work on a seafront war memorial is due to be completed by the end of the month.

The statue at the end of Regency Square, Brighton, commemorating the victims of the Boer War has been surrounded by scaffolding for over a month while work has been carried out.

Residents were initially told it would be unveiled again by the end of September but yesterday Brighton and Hove City Council confirmed they would have to wait for several more weeks.

The work is being done to put right problems following a restoration last year.

Bronze paint applied to the statue and plaques had begun to chip away.

A council spokesman said: "Work on the statue is taking a bit longer than expected, but we really believe it will be worth the wait.

"We found that under the many layers of old paint the bronze bits of the statue were starting to deteriorate, so we are carrying out a full refurbishment of them."

The work being done by contractors Rupert Harris Conservation involves stripping off all old paint layers, applying several coatings of hot wax and adding a chemical colouring.