No one is looking forward to this but there will be a road closure on Foldgate Lane from 26 February and three way lights on the Foldgate Lane Sheet Road junction from the end of March. The Foldgate Lane works are essential to connect the latest phases of the Ludlow Green development (Crest Nicholson) to the sewerage network. The traffic lights were due to be in place over the Easter holiday but after I said that was unacceptable, Shropshire Council’s highways team negotiated for the lights to be lifted from 28 March to 2 April. Even so, these works will cause significant disruption to traffic entering and leaving the town on Sheet Road, including the 722 park and ride service. The A4113 works are in preparation for resurfacing over the summer. The A4113 will be closed at Bromfield from Tuesday 20 February to Wednesday 28 February, 9.30am to 4.00pm. No […]
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Licence application for eight large events at Ludlow Castle approved
Shropshire Council’s licencing subcommittee has approved an application from Festival Sounds for eight large events at Ludlow Castle. The castle is already licenced for events up to 4,999 people every day of the year. This approval will allow events with up to 7,999 people attending. The application was fiercely opposed by residents nearby who suffer from noise during major events. There was strong support across the wider town for an increase in entertainment in Ludlow and the footfall generated by the events. The hearing took place on Tuesday and the verdict has now been issued. It can only be challenged by legal action. I have a lot of sympathy for the residents. We also need to look after the needs of the broader town. If I had been able to attend the hearing on Tuesday, I would have argued for fewer large events. Noise and behaviour during the concerts will […]
A summer of writing – with history this good who needs fiction?
As most of you will know, I have been on light council duties for a couple of months. I’m still dealing with urgent matters. Sewerage spills. Homelessness. And attending planning meetings and more. But after nearly a decade as a councillor I decided I need a break. Always in the back of mind was a plan to write a couple of books centred on the Dukes and Duchesses of Buckingham and Chandos. History books. About the people, not the events of the Georgian era about which so much has been written. Of course, the events of the day feature. Politics, just as ugly, self-centred and back stabbing as it is today. The war with Napoleon. But I am more interested in the people and how they reacted to the events of the day and to each other. I’ll be back full time as a councillor in early September reserving a […]
Denial of rumours that I am resigning as a councillor
I have heard too many times in the last few weeks that I am to resign as a Shropshire councillor, even that I have resigned. I am not resigning. I intend to stick to my aim of standing in 2025 for the unitary elections. I am sorry that at least one councillor is spreading false information. Gossip and loose tongues in a small town like Ludlow can be dangerous. The quidnuncs quickly make a reality of an unreality. Now back to my planned break to write about the quidnuncs in Weymouth in the eighteenth century and an awful lot more, some of it rather awful. Some of it absolutely glorious.
I’m taking a break from the lust and political intrigues, betrayal and deceit of modern life
I am on leave from councillor duties until the end of August. Twenty-three years ago, I scribbled the idea for two history books while relaxing in a beach bar in India over Christmas and New Year. It followed a week doing preliminary research in a library in Los Angeles. Over the next decade, I steadily collected information from archives around the UK, in LA and from printed books. More than a million words. Work on the books slowed while I campaigned to become a councillor, and having been elected in 2014, my writing on this project pretty much ground to a halt. If I don’t finish this mammoth project soon, it will never be done. That’s why I am taking two months off from most council duties. I will still be attending essential council meetings so as not to pass the burden onto others or to let time sensitive agendas […]