Bridgnorth's town hall damaged in Christmas lights work

Insurers were today facing a hefty bill after the 17th century town hall in Bridgnorth was damaged when the town's Christmas lights were being put up.

A section of one corner of the historic building facing St Mary's Church was split and a crack about 2ft long opened up.

It is believed a cherry picker used to put up the Christmas lights caused the damage on either Monday or Tuesday and insurers for the contractors involved are thought to be going to foot the bill for repairs.

Anne Wilson, locum clerk of Bridgnorth Town Council, said it was an unfortunate thing to happen and the cost of the repair work would be covered by the contractor JLB Electrical's insurers.

She added: "I have spoken to the contractor and he has explained how he thinks it happened but we will be looking at CCTV footage. We have got to have the damage assessed fully by a structural engineer.

"We don't know yet the full cost of the repair but it could be very expensive because the damage is right on the joint."

Scaffolding went up around the affected corner at the junction with St Mary Street and workmen yesterday began carrying out stop-gap repairs until permanent work can be done.

Councillor Ray Gill told a meeting of the town council on Tuesday he had heard in the town that the damage had been caused by a cherry picker.