STRUCTURAL engineers are due to carry out a detailed inspection of a clock tower after part of it fell into the street below.

The foot long by four-inch wide piece of masonry broke off the clock tower on Congleton town hall at 9.15am.

Fortunately no-one was walking along High Street at the time, and scaffolding has been put up to safeguard pedestrians while repairs are carried out.

The masonry formed part of the ornamental features of the clock tower.

The borough council was told of the damage by information centre staff, who saw the masonry crash down onto the pavement outside the town hall.

Borough planning chief Geoff Allen said protective scaffolding had gone up immediately in the interests of public safety.

Further scaffolding was being put up this week to enable the council's building surveyors and consultant structural engineers to assess the condition of the stonework.

Mr Allen said the cost of repairs would be ''fairly expensive, '' bearing in mind the ''significant'' cost of the scaffolding, and routine maintenance work would be brought forward alongside the repairs.

The town hall and information will still be open while the repairs are carried out.

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