Delays and difficulties have held up repairs to Brighton's historic Clock Tower.

Brighton and Hove City Council is restoring the tower, at the junction of Queen's Road and North Street, which was built to celebrate the golden jubilee of Queen Victoria.

The city council also wants to restore the mechanism, which originally drove a golden ball up a mast to the top of the tower every hour.

Scaffolding has been surrounding the tower for months while investigations took place.

Experts have now discovered there is severe corrosion to the mast which would mean it could not support the ball.

A council spokeswoman said: "It has to be strong to support the ball on its way up and down as it weighs 100 kg.

"It could be the reason why they stopped the ball moving more than a hundred years ago."

The official excuse has always been that wind whistling through a slot in the mast irritated many people who lived near the tower.

Repair work will also be carried out on stonework to the tower which was presented as a gift to the town by a local businessman.

Earlier this year, there were other delays caused by repairs to the mechanism being more complicated than originally thought.

The work was to have been completed by Christmas but the new finishing date is January.

Provided that target is met, the restored tower should be ready in time for the present Queen's golden jubilee in February.