The people of Colchester face a massive bill to keep the town's historic Roman walls standing unless something is done now.
During the 1990s, Colchester Council spent more than £500,000 repairing the town's Roman wall, which is the oldest in England.
But since 2000, no cash has been put towards maintaining and repairing the walls because of tight finances at the council.
The funds put aside, called the heritage reserve, have now dried up.
The plight of certain sections of the wall were highlighted at a meeting of the Colchester Town Forum.
Three areas of the wall -Priory Street, Balkerne Hill and Roman Road are in need of attention, and there is currently no cash available to carry out works.
Keith Nicholson, head of leisure services at the council, said the council faced a massive bill if it was left for a few more years.
He said: "The funding has dried up, which leaves a couple of sections of the wall, which have not been dealt, with in need of substantial attention.
"In ten years' time, the council and other organisations, namely Essex County Council and English Heritage, will be faced with a very large bill again.
"We do need to get more money back into the programme for these big bits of repair and take a long-term view towards our Roman walls.
"I willl keep putting the item forward for consideration but it is in a long list of other priorities."
Mr Nicholson said the walls were not in danger of collapse.
Published Friday, April 11, 2003
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