RESIDENTS who challenged a council over who owns a crumbling concrete wall in the front of their homes are celebrating victory.

Medway ouncil has continually insisted that the homeowners, among them young couples, pensioners and students, should pay up to £600,000 to make the wall safe before it collapses on to the busy road below.

But the residents of Borstal, near Rochester, remained adamant that the wall was not included in their property deeds and therefore the responsibility lay with the local authority.

After two years of campaigning the council finally took them to court in a bid to get the cash - an average £16,000 per household.

But they did not reckon on the determination and resourcefulness of the residents.

Pooling their savings they hired a leading London barrister who fought their case at a special hearing at Medway Magistrates' Court where a district judge ruled in their favour.

This week council highway staff finally started work on a section of the dilapidated 12ft retaining wall.

Kate Webster, of the Bortal Street Wall Action Committee, said: "Although we are delighted at the moment we don't feel the council will stand down. We have a feeling it won't go away."