Council reassures residents about Ludlow Town Walls

Shropshire Council and the Diocese of Hereford are working to ensure the safety of people living close to a section of Ludlow Town Walls which has been inspected by engineers.

The section of the wall, which backs on to a small number of residential properties’ gardens in The Linney, is owned by the Diocese of Hereford.

An engineer who inspected the wall on behalf of the Diocese has reported that the condition of the wall has seriously deteriorated over the past year, and is now considered to be unsafe.

Shropshire Council has taken the decision to advise the people living in those properties to leave their homes as a precautionary measure while engineers further assess the situation.

Council leader, Keith Barrow, and local members, Rosanna and Martin Taylor-Smith, spoke to the residents concerned to advise them of the situation on Friday evening.

It must be stressed that there is no need for anyone else to be concerned and there is no immediate danger concerning any other parts of the wall.

Any other residents who may live near Ludlow Town Wall and have not been contacted should not be concerned, as the council has informed everyone who is directly impacted by this.

Councillor Barrow said:

“We are talking to the Diocese of Hereford and advising them to urgently review the safety of this particular section of the wall.  Our number one concern is the safety of residents, and we are advising the people who live in these particular properties to temporarily leave their homes to be absolutely sure that they are safe.”

Shropshire Councillor for Ludlow North, Rosanna Taylor-Smith, added:

“We would like to reassure people that we are doing everything possible to manage the situation.  We are talking to the Diocese of Hereford to urgently arrange further work to decide how we can make the wall safe.”

The residents have been offered temporary accommodation by the council, but are of course able to stay with friends or relatives if they prefer.  It is unclear at this stage how long they will be advised to vacate their properties.

Superintendent, James Tozer, police commander for Shropshire, said:

“Public safety is a real priority for all emergency services, and we are working to support the local authority during this incident.”

Ludlow’s town walls are one of the most complete ancient perimeter defences of any historic town in England and date back some 800 years.