Legal talks continuing over repairs of Ludlow's collapsed walls
Councillors have agreed to hold a confidential meeting with their barrister later this year over the issue of Ludlow’s collapsed 13th Century town walls.
The town council met on Monday evening with the agenda including a discussion on ‘approval of a timetable for legal advice’ over the long-running issue.
The item was discussed in exempt session, with no members of the public allowed to attend.
A council spokesman said: "The town council have agreed to hold a confidential meeting with their barrister in September."
The issue of the walls dates back to 2013 when two 10-metre sections of the historic town defences collapsed.
The collapse was followed by a wrangle over who was responsible for paying to repair the historic walls, with Ludlow Town Council agreeing to lead the work in 2015.
In 2019 the council was successful in a loan of £38,545 from the Public Works Loans Board to carry out survey work to look at the potential options and costs of the project.
That work has been completed, and the council is understood to have a number of options for the structural repairs.
Historic England has helped to fund a town walls management plan and the repair of sections of wall in both private and local authority ownership.
A Town Walls Trust has also been established to promote the protection and care of the walls.
The walls were originally built to protect the town from the threat of Welsh attack and civil war.
It is believed they were built in about 1270. They encompassed parts of the existing town, making use of Ludlow Castle, and included eight gates and at least three mural towers.
After the 16th Century they fell into decline, and in the 21st Century only parts of the circuit and the Broad Gate survive.
The meeting takes place at 7pm at Ludlow Methodist Church.
Ludlow Town Council agreed in October 2015 to take the lead and pay for the works.
A breakthrough came in May that year when funding of £38,545 from the Public Works Loans Board was secured and the Morton Partnership was appointed as lead consultant and structural engineer.
And last year the Morton Partnership said it had appointed a conservation accredited engineer as the new project manager to continue explorative works to yield the information required to create an engineered solution to the wall’s repair.
Ludlow's Shropshire councillor, Andy Boddington has called for action and has criticised the town council for "crawling along at snail’s pace in arranging the long overdue repairs".
