A CAMPAIGN to save a County Durham market town’s crumbling landmark is gathering momentum.

A banner displaying the message: ‘Welcome to Barney Rubble, twinned with bedrock’, was attached to Barnard Castle’s castle by an anonymous group last week, in protest at the lack of action being taken to repair it.

The group said the message was fitting for the state of the walls which have suffered several falls with the bad winter weather.

Durham County Council, which owns the land around the 12th century landmark along with Raby Estates, was also forced to temporarily cordon off a section of the path surrounding it after cracks appeared in the paving in December.

A member of the banner group said: “We want to save our namesake and fast. We want a solution to this - our heritage is being trampled on.”

In 2009, a landslip sparked a debate over who is responsible for the upkeep of the castle walls but none of the three parties involved - Raby Estates, Durham County Council and English Heritage - has ever come to an agreement and the monument is now listed as “at risk”.

Much of the £100,000 of urgent repairs recommended in a 2014 structural survey are also yet to be carried out as the impasse continues.

Geotechnical engineer, Ross Nicholson, who carried out the original structural survey also reaffirmed his concerns that a collapse could be imminent when he reinspected the walls recently, despite English Heritage saying the castle was not likely to fall down any time soon.

Now Bishop Auckland MP Helen Goodman has backed calls for Raby Estates to fix the walls.

She recently met with Barnard Castle Town Councillor’s, Gary Marshall and Judi Sutherland, and archaeologists Caroline and Niall Hardie-Hammond, from The Barnard Castle Walls Trust, to discuss how a long-term solution could be found.

Mrs Goodman said: “I was very pleased to have a meeting to hear about the problem. The situation is getting increasingly dangerous and I think Raby Estates should act as soon as possible to mend the walls.”

Cllr Sutherland said: “We are trying to use all sorts of means to put pressure on Lord Barnard and Raby Estates to actually allow this work to be done.

“Do they want to be seen as people who really do not care about heritage? I am sure their business would suffer if they did not look after this properly so they need to take a deep breath and get on with it.”

A spokesman for Raby Estates declined to comment.