Councils may have passed the buck back and forth for repairing a wall that collapsed onto a path.

A wall in Ashfield Avenue, Bushey gave way on January 10, leaving a footpath covered in rubble.

No one was injured when it collapsed at around 4pm, but a neighbour reported hearing a “horrendous crash” that “shook their house”.

Hertfordshire County Council confirmed the bricks were removed and the footpath was reopened on January 23.

Enquiries to Hertfordshire County Council and Hertsmere Borough Council now suggest there could have been some confusion with regards to the repair of a wall or two walls in the vicinity.

Fidler Place resident Raymond Marskell told the Observer last month the Ashfield Avenue wall had been a safety risk for many years. He had reported the wall to local authorities but said he was assured it was structurally safe two years ago.

An email dated September 2014 - seen by the Observer – reveals Hertsmere Borough Council had made the county council aware of a wall “leaning over the footpath” on Ashfield Avenue, between Fidler Place and Baird Close.

The email by the Hertsmere council officer suggested the wall needed "stabilising as soon as possible".

Watford Observer:

The collapsed wall. Photo: UGC

The county council said it had no record of the 2014 correspondence with Hertsmere Borough Council. But it said it received a report in 2015 with regards to another wall in Fidler’s Place, close to the Ashfield Avenue wall. The Fidler’s Place wall was the responsibility of the borough council, so it passed the problem on to Hertsmere.

The Ashfield Avenue wall which collapsed in January would have been the responsibility of the county council.

When asked if the county council could have mistaken one wall for the other, a spokesperson said the council was not aware of any mix-up.