Ludlow church wall repairs rejected by town council

The council has pointed the finger at Shropshire Council in an official letter, stating that the repairs – which could end up costing £1 million – are up to the county-wide authority.

In a letter to Shropshire Council's legal services department, town clerk Gina Wilding stated that responsibility for maintaining the walls transferred to Shropshire Council in 2012.

The letter follows an assertion by Shropshire Council that repairs had been held up because the situation was "complicated" and that discussions were taking place about who owned the 30-foot stretch bordering the church yard at St Laurence's Church.

The lack of action to fix the historic monument sparked outrage from Councillor Andy Boddington, who represents Ludlow North on Shropshire Council. He accused Shirehall of "doing nothing more than talk about who is responsible for the costs".

Ms Wilding said the churchyard, including the walls, used to be owned by St Laurence Parochial Church Council (PCC), and was maintained for them by Ludlow Town Council – but all that stopped in 2012.

She said she had found confirmation that the walls were owned by St Laurence Parochial Church Council as recently as 2000, at which point the town council was contracted to oversee their upkeep.

But Ludlow Town Council received notice on September 28 2012 that "passed on all liability relating maintenance to Shropshire Council".

She said that was it as far as Ludlow Town Council's involvement was concerned.

"Ludlow Town Council has not taken part in discussions regarding the collapsed wall because it has no responsibility in this matter," she said.

"Ludlow Town Council is supportive of Ludlow's Town Wall Trust and provides a grant of £2,000 per annum to demonstrate this support. The mayor and councillors would like to see repair works undertaken as soon as possible."

The section of the medieval town walls collapsed behind St Laurence's Church in a residential street at Upper Linney on February 18 last year, destroying a parked car.

Councillor Boddington said sandbags and plastic put in place to contain the problem were failing. He said: "Ludlow still has some of the most complete town walls in England, yet 18 months after a section of the walls collapsed, all that has happened to repair them is nothing."

Anni Holden, of the Diocese of Hereford, said they were responsible for fixing for a collapsed section further down, which had been repaired – but not the section that was still collapsed. No one at Shropshire Council was available for comment.