TV star Jo Brand's mum threatens to stop paying council tax in Ludlow services row

Joyce Brand, a well-known campaigner in her own right, wrote to Shropshire Council leader Malcolm Pate saying she saw the move as the "only one direct action" that she has available to protest against the possible withdrawal of services from her home town of Ludlow by as early as April 2017.

Her letter comes after she was told to write with her concerns to Councillor Pate at last week's full meeting of Shropshire Council.

Her daughter Jo has also pledged support for Ludlow Library.

With Shropshire Council set to slash its budgets for libraries, leisure centres and tourism, the authority is looking to hand over the running and funding of such services to town councils or other organisations – but Ludlow Town Council has said it would need an extra year,until April 2018, to manage any such transfer of large scale services.

In her letter Mrs Brand calls for Ludlow Town Council to be given the extra time – or she will stop her council tax payments.

She wrote: "Your decision not to increase the council tax in line with inflation has obviously contributed to the financial difficulties we are facing.

"Ironically your suggestion to Ludlow Town Council is that it should raise its precept to take on the civic responsibilities that you can no longer manage."

She claims Ludlow assets are at risk of being sold off or lost with "no return in any way to the town", including Ludlow Library, Ludlow Assembly Rooms, the recycling centre, the former Stone House council offices site and possibly Ludlow Youth Centre.

"Additionally Shropshire Council takes from Ludlow's car parks £640,00 per annum with running costs £200,000," she says.

"Given the impact that Shropshire Council's decisions to withdraw from the provision of services will have on Ludlow, are you willing to put forward proposals, including considerably more time, that will enable the Town Council to rescue what can be rescued from the things you are want to so hastily to discard?

"I can see only one direct action that I have available to me in the meantime; that is to cease paying my council tax."

She also questioned the authority over the multi-million cost of upgrading its IT system, the decision to give the Guildhall over rent-free to the University of Chester and the costly failure of ip&e, a company that was set up to make Shropshire Council money.

Her daughter Jo, who has done book signings at Ludlow Library in the past, last week showed her support for the venue, saying running libraries "on the cheap" with volunteers "is not the way forward".

Meanwhile, more than 500 people have now signed a petition asking Ludlow's MP to step in and support a campaign to save the town's library.

Supporters have written of their distress at the idea of "Ludlow without a library" and urged Philip Dunne to use all of his powers to ensure the service is not lost.

No decisions have yet been made over the future of Ludlow Library, which shares a building with Ludlow Museum Resource Centre, but with funding set to be withdrawn for both by Shropshire Council from April 2017, and no agreement over who might take either over, fears for the service are growing.

Resident Jane Cullen said: "Libraries are an essential part of society, offering many resources as well as unlimited possibility for all ages and all kinds of people. Ludlow without its library is a cut too far."

Fellow Ludlovian Jean Aitken said: "Ludlow library is a vital hub for our community. Innumerable small events go on there."

People from surrounding towns have also responded to the petition with Rob Doughty, from Craven Arms, adding: "A modern library is not simply a repository of printed documents and books.

"It provides numerous other services for the local population, from photocopying of documents to internet access. In the case of Ludlow library, it also provides a home for other local government services such as the registrar of births, deaths and marriages, and also JobCentre Plus."

He told Mr Dunne: "Many of your constituents would lose access to these services, with all the attendant ramifications such as jobseekers being unable to fulfil their obligations to search online for jobs, new parents being unable to register their new arrival or the recently bereaved being unable to register their loss."

He said it was not just Ludlow Library at risk, but South Shropshire Leisure Centre in Ludlow also, where his wife was about to start essential physiotherapy.