A MULTIGAMES wall opened by the Queen on a visit to Tidworth a decade ago has no official owner, it has been revealed.

The wall in Ludgershall Road was the first of its kind in the country but has become the target for graffiti artists and other vandals over the years.

The parish council has discussed the unsightly nature of the wall more than once but has felt powerless to do anything because it believes the wall is still owned by National Playing Fields, a registered charity with the Queen as its patron.

Following a report about the state of the wall in the Andover Advertiser, the charity's director Elsa Davies responded.

"Just to set the record straight, the wall is now owned by the parish council and does not carry any charitable status from its National Playing Fields origins," she said in a letter.

"I would assume that the parish council as the owner would have the right to 'tidy up' the wall'."

Parish council chairman Steve Dagger said he was not aware that the wall was in the council's ownership.

"As far as we are aware this wall does not belong to us although the parish clerk is looking into it," said Mr Dagger. "There are a few factors to consider.

"The wall was built by somebody else, is on land owned by the MoD and not the parish council and has been insured by another organisation. The original planning application for the wall was put in by the MoD."

District councillor Peter Colling, said: "The wall is certainly not owned by the parish council. I was the council chairman when the wall was opened and we were not even officially invited to the opening ceremony."

A MoD spokesman said: "We don't own it. "Anything we have built or adopted is on our asset register and it isn't on it."