A householder has appealed for support from parish councillors after learning he is facing a bill of more than £23,000 to replace the windows of his home in the Ironbridge Gorge.

Stephen Scott told the Gorge Parish Council on Tuesday night he had expected to pay about £14,000 for the improvements to his home in Belmont Road. But now he has been told he will have to put in sash windows after a request by a conservation officer.

That would bump up the bill by about £10,000. He said he would not be able to pay the extra amount.

Jayne Madeley, parish council clerk, said Mr Scott had gone along to the meeting for support from councillors.

The council heard that in December last year Mr Scott applied to Telford & Wrekin Council to replace existing windows in his home with new ones.

The appearance of the windows was to be almost identical to the existing ones and double glazed.

He also applied for permission for existing doors to be replaced with similar designs.

The application went through the parish council with no objections.

But the house is within a conservation area and so Telford & Wrekin Council’s conservation officer Sandra Jones was said to have made a request for sash windows to be installed.

Mr Scott said: “The basic idea was for like-for-like windows and double glazing because at the moment it is single glazing. My property faces on to the Gorge and the wind and the rain goes into the windows.

“You can’t have double glazing with sash windows. To put it back, if I got sash windows, it would cost £23,000 to £24,000. I haven’t got £23,000.”

Councillor Mike Swift said: “We don’t think we had any major objections. I know that when it comes to the Gorge the conservation officer always gets involved.”

Councillor Liz Swift, who was chairing the meeting, said: “There is not really a lot we can do.”

By Chrissy Symmons