A DOOR in a wall, which vicars of old used as a shortcut from the vicarage to Bromsgrove's St John's Church, will be repaired and put back in place as soon as possible.

Church officials were dismayed when the old, heavy door, with stout iron furniture, was replaced by a cheap plywood panel version after vandals left the original swinging off its hinges around five months ago.

The door is set in a wall, a little way from the lychgate near the steps leading to the historic churchyard from St John Street. Both the lychgate and steps are currently in a sorry state and awaiting repair.

But Jenny Ashmore, the church's fabric committee chairman, said this is no reason why an inferior door, not in keeping with the surroundings of the historic Grade I listed building, should be put there instead.

She said complaints had been made to Somerset Redstone Trust, which owns St John's Court Nursing Home which used to be home to bygone vicars of Bromsgrove.

"We were astonished at being told that what we thought was a temporary door was in fact to be permanent," she said.

"It is out of character and looks like a pasteboard."

But trust property manager Richard Green this week said it had always been understood it had been a temporary stop gap. "The door is being repaired and will be put back within days rather than weeks," he said.