Swan Hill Rural City councillors voted on Tuesday to keep the project going, despite calls from local artists and the RSL to halt work on the town icon.

Council chief executive officer Dennis Hovenden said councillors had received a petition from the artists and a letter from the RSL, but decided there were no grounds for the work on the clock tower to be scrapped.

Nearly all of the work on the tower is expected to be finished by the end of February, and some of the new parts are currently being created.

Mr Hovenden said the councillors decided that the organisers of the renovation -- the Swan Hill region Community U Committee -- followed the correct community consultation process during the design phase of the project last year.

The committee held numerous meetings with community groups as well as a public discussion at the Swan Hill town hall in April, in which the clock tower renovations were voted into Swan Hill's community plan.

"The key driver for the councillors was that they believe the process has been followed through," Mr Hovenden said.

"They believe in that process that there was sufficient consultation and sufficient opportunities for people to feed their views through to the Community U Committee."

The proposed design would see the tower painted in maroon, with an Aboriginal mosaic, promotional boards, directional signs, illuminated banners and an Australian flag fitted on top.

Council funded the restoration of the clock's timepiece and the remaining $57,000 renovation will be paid for by the Community U Committee, which raised money through business donations and local fundraising.

The artists believed the proposed design for the tower was not "aesthetically pleasing", and were upset that they were not directly approached to create their own model.

The RSL also opposed the plan, arguing that the eye-catching tower could be detrimental to the town cenotaph, which is located directly opposite on the intersection of McCallum and Campbell streets.