BEDWELLTY House and Park had barely been open two days before the historic venue suffered its first criminal attack.

The Grade II-listed building and adjoining gardens in Tredegar opened to the public last Monday following delays in the £5.5 million restoration work. They were targeted less than 48 hours later by thieveswhoattempted to takematerial off the roof of the bandstand on Tuesday night.

A spokeswoman for Blaenau Gwent council said: “It appears that someone attempted to take some material they may have thought was lead off the roof. Thematerial is actually zinc.”

Night security staff disturbed the thieves before they were able to take anything, nothing was stolen and the incident was not reported to police. The local authority’s workmen were at the site on Thursday repairing the damage and making sure the roof was secure.

The council is now looking at more security, whichincludes using Smartwater, an invisible marking that would show up if any thieves tried to sellmaterial on.

The council said that with the high value of metal such as lead, it is looking at replacing it with other materials in its newbuildings.

Aspokeswomansaid: “If the buildingwas listed and leadwas the product used, then Cadw would insist that lead is replaced with lead. With other buildings, the use of other materials is an option for us.”

This is the latest setback at the site. A grand re-opening was planned for June 4 after it had been closed for 18 months, but only a small section of Bedwellty House was open to the 2,500 visitors because renovation work hadn’t been completed. The site closed for a further two weeks.

EDITORIAL COMMENT: Rethink on metals

THE high price of metals combined with the economic slump means the theft of lead, copper and zinc is a booming business.

Thieves are apparently willing to risk their lives invading railway lines, climbing onto roofs and playing Russian roulette with electric cables in the pursuit of illicit cash.

In some cases replacing the metals provides the only practical solution for the particular facility.

But in other cases we wonder if public money is not being wasted.

Older buildings, such as churches, and other public buildings, such as the historic Bedwellty House, are suffering a spate of lead thefts fromtheir roofs.

In some cases the buildings’ owners, especially local authorities, are having to replace originalmaterials because of the historical importance of the building.

But it seems to us: time for a rethink.

What is the point in replacing lead or zinc if it is going to be stripped off again? Why not find a plastic-based material with little value that can be made to mimic the original?

It does not make sense to throw good money after bad.