Repairs to a historic Shropshire building could top £100,000 because of damage caused by pigeon mess.

Work on Ludlow’s Buttercross is due to start soon, but the cost will now be more than the £70,000 originally expected, after pigeon nests and excrement blocked gutters and made the roof leak. Mayor Martin Taylor-Smith said English Heritage was being approached for extra cash.

He said: “The final cost could be as high as £100,000. We are trying to get some more money from English Heritage, now that we know the work is more expensive we are approaching them about a further grant.”

Councillor Taylor-Smith said at a town council meeting on Monday: “Work is going to start in the coming weeks, it’s going to be more extensive than originally envisaged. The little tower on the top seems to be leaning more than the Tower of Pisa and there’s a lot of rot, mainly caused by pigeons.”

Town clerk Veronica Calderbank said blocked gutters had meant water had leaked into the building.

She said: “It was pouring in the council chamber, the wall paper has come off. If you stand by the Church Inn and look at the Buttercross, it looks a mess.”

Ms Calderbank said air conditioning units on the roof belonging to a nearby shop were attracting the pigeons, which then built nests and the clock worker couldn’t get up on to the roof to wind the clock.

The Buttercross includes council offices and a small council chamber.

Public meetings of the council are held at Ludlow Conference Centre.

Ludlow’s main town hall was demolished on safety grounds in the 1980s.

Graham Wilson-Lloyd, who had to collect some electrical equipment from the building before it was torn down, said part of the problem had been that the roof was too heavy and had pushed the walls out.

Where the town hall stood is where Ludlow’s markets now take place.

Councillor Taylor-Smith told the meeting: “The Buttercross work is out to tender, we’re trying to give a certain amount of preference to local firms, but we do have to give best value.”