Thank-you both for your attention to my problem.

The following code snippet isolates the issue:

ppList := Table[{i/4, i/4}, {i, 4}];

locList = Table[ Locator[    ppList [[ i ]]    ] , {i, 4}];

   Graphics [ locList ]


(* should show 4 locators : now move the one in the lower left  then *)

locList[[1]]

(* still shows {1/4,1/4} as location *)
I have tried putting a Dynamic[] in at various points but either this was an error or did not achieve the goal of showing the new location.

I am aware that both the solns given so far would achieve the desired result for this example, but  I need to create the locators conditionally, read programatically altered locations and also reset those locations  programatically. So, if possible would like to work with the simple structure above.  I have everything working fine if I code each locator individually but am getting a bit fed up cutting and pasting code now I'm on my 8th Locator!!

The problem maybe relates to that of, in general, changing the value of an element in a list??

Are you looking for something different than what is shown on the help pages?

http://reference.wolfram.com/mathematica/ref/LocatorPane.html

There is an example there showing 3 points and printing the coordinate of the point as you move it. It is half way down the page :