Residents asked to fund town renovation
Householders in Ludlow are being asked to dig deep to save the town's historic cobblestones which are in a perilous state.
Ludlow Civic Society has approached households with their 'begging bowl' in a bid to raise £15,000 which will be spent on a test area on Broad Street.
The cobbles were laid in 1829-30 according to a scheme by Thomas Telford. Over the years, they have been severely damaged and badly repaired by utilities contractors.
In a letter to residents of the town, Richard Hurlock, chairman of the Civic Society said: "You will not have failed to notice the deteriorating state of these stones which make up one of the many attractive features of Ludlow.
"Despite the fact that many of them are Listed, they suffer from neglect, unsympathetic reinstatement by the utilities and unmaintained wear and tear.
"This has prompted the Civic Society to attempt a rolling scheme of restoration over the next few years. We have chosen a trial area on the west side of Broad Street. The whole process is fully supported by the conservation officer and would be used to set a standard for any future work.
"Repairing this exemplar site is estimated to cost around £15,000. The society will donate £2,000 towards this and will give our own time and labour in an attempt to reduce this cost to the absolute minimum, which brings us to your door with a begging bowl.
"Repeated attempts to obtain funding from the utilities and local council, whose duty of care covers the cobbles, has produced no action. The society has therefore decided to grasp the nettle and restore a small patch as a benchmark for future repairs and a visible encouragement to those who need to step up to this challenge.
"The future and larger scheme would have to involve the co-operation of utilities, town and county council as well as property owners."
Andy Boddington, councillor for Ludlow East said: "My priority would be to develop a code of conduct for utilities and other contractors to specify the way that repairs should be carried out and the type of cobbles and mortar to be used.
"Over the years, the wrong type of cobbles have been laid in the wrong way with cement, not lime mortar. I welcome any initiative to get repairs done. The Grade II listed cobbles on Broad Street are becoming an embarrassment to our historic town. We should be celebrating Shropshire's most famous engineer, Thomas Telford, not letting his legacy decay."
