THE grandson of a soldier believed to be Worcester's only recipient of the Victoria Cross has criticised the city council for only paying half the costs to a planned memorial.

Fred Dancox said a grant of £250 towards an information board about Pte Fred Dancox, who died in 1917 during the First World War, and estimated to cost around £500, was a drop in the ocean for the council.

However council leader Stephen Inman said it was never asked for a specific amount - only a contribution.

Mr Dancox, originally from Worcester but now living in Telford, Shropshire, said: "I don't hold the council in any great esteem. I'm not bitter. I just think they need to get it into their heads the significance of the VC for the city."

Coun Inman said he was 'staggered' by Mr Dancox's comment and that providing 50 per cent of the estimated cost was generous. The money was approved at a city council cabinet meeting last week.

He said: "If we had been asked to pay the full amount it would have been considered."

Pte Dancox, of the 4th Battalion the Worcestershire Regiment, won the Victoria Cross - Britain's highest award for gallantry - for single-handedly capturing an enemy bunker on October 9 1917 and taking around 40 German soldiers prisoner.t

The Worcestershire and Herefordshire branch of the Western Front Association want to unveil the memorial near the Belgian village of Langemarck, where the heroic action took place, in July 2006.

Association chairman Stephen Moorhouse, who sent a letter of thanks to the city council for the donation, said: "We are now trying to raise funds to hopefully part pay travel costs for any of Pte Dancox's family members who go over."