THE owner of a Wantage wall that could crumble into the road says he is willing to knock it down but will not replace it.

Michael Macario has agreed to demolish the wall in Wallingford Street to make the area safer but only if Vale of White Horse District Council can prove he owns it.

Oxfordshire County Council closed 12 metres of Wallingford Street in January after the Vale said it was in danger of collapsing.

The 100m red brick wall supports a bank of earth with trees and shrubs, which backs onto Haywards Close, but a 12-metre stretch is deteriorating.

The Order of St John Care Trust (OSJCT), which runs the Stirlings Care Home behind the wall, has already begun repairs on the stretch it is responsible for.

But the Vale has said the rest of the wall belongs to Hampshire housing developer Haynes Holdings, which built Haywards Close in the 1970s.

The Vale told the company in May that it took possession of the earth bank – but not the wall – in 2004 to maintain the trees.

But Mr Macario, the company’s managing director, said he was “mystified” by the assertion.

He said: “I appear to own it but I am a little bit mystified – I don’t recollect transferring the open spaces at all.

“If the Vale came along and said ‘we’d like this land transferred to us’ then I would have said ‘great, here’s the land’, instead of drawing a red line around the wall.

“Of course I would have given them the wall.”

He added: “If they prove to my satisfaction that I own it, then obviously we are responsible for demolishing it to make sure it’s safe for the public, but not replacing it.”

Mr Macario asked the Vale to show him a copy of the transfer deed on June 4, and has heard nothing since.

He added: “I would have thought they would deal with it more urgently – do the repairs then send me an invoice.”

He also asked OSJCT to ask its contractor repairing the wall for a quote for the cost of demolishing it, but the trust has not responded either.

Wantage town councillor Jenny Hannaby, who also sits on the Vale and county councils, sparked the saga in January when she used money from her county councillor’s fund to have foliage cleared from the wall, exposing how dangerous it was.

She warned: “If no one takes responsibility the scaffolding could stay there for years.

“It is vital that OCC, which has responsible for highways, gets this matter sorted out.”

No one from Vale of White Horse District Council was available to comment on the issue last night.

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