Another town walls meeting - Councils to discuss repairing collapsed Ludlow wall again

Despite the collapse happening in 2012, only temporary measures have been used to prop up the wall by St Laurence’s Church in Ludlow.

The situation has got so bad that the Parochial Church Council (PCC) has threatened legal action if Ludlow Town Council (LTC) does not take action.

The authority appointed structural engineers, the Morton Partnership, in 2017 to seek tenders for the repair work. The report was finally delivered to the council in late 2021. However, the PCC, and other interested parties, were only shown the full report last month after the town council “reconsidered its position.”

However, in an email to Colin Richards, the chairman of Ludlow Town Walls Trust, Gina Wilding, clerk of LTC, says that any demands for a risk assessment should be directed to the church, which owns the wall, and it has no liability to either investigate the matter or undertake any remedial works.

The town council has now called for an extroadinary meeting for this Monday (February 3) with the town wall being the only item being discussed. However, it is set to be held in private, with the press and public excluded.

The agenda says that there will be a presentation explaining the role of a once free-standing wall that is slowing becoming a retaining wall of built-up ground for burials. There will also be an overview of engineering options with a question and answer session, with the final engineering solution requiring approval from the Dioceasan Advisory Committee.

Members will also be asked to approve the council’s continuation of working with other organisations to find a solition for the rebuilding of the collapsed wall.