McConnel in Ludlow has applied for planning permission to expand its premises on Weeping Cross Lane (23/05270/FUL). It wants to expand the workshop space, install new staff facilities and improve the entrance to the site. There are many light engineering businesses in Ludlow and they form part of the backbone of the town’s economy. McConnel is one of our largest engineering employers. It proudly declares itself the “Home of the Hedgecutter”. This is a welcome application. It shows that McConnel is committed to Ludlow. In the long term. That is good news for jobs, all the people that work for the company and the economy of our rural town.
Tag: economy
Plans to convert former maternity unit at Ludlow Hospital into small business spaces
A planning application has been submitted to convert the former maternity unity at Ludlow Community Hospital to workshops and office space (22/02263/COU). The building was put up for sale last October and there was concern that it might be converted into apartments, a use that would not be compatible with the hospital uses on the site. This is good application from entrepreneurs Johnny Bergius and Ed Godrich who have been looking for a home for an adventurous concept. The plan is to host an eclectic mix of small businesses, offices, artists, craft studios, filmmakers and the like. There is also talk of a coffee roastery. We are desperately short of space for small enterprises in Ludlow. We need projects like this to allow south Shropshire’s community, culture and economy to thrive. There is no plan for managing the health estate across Ludlow. Both GP practices will need more space by […]
Rome and Jericho get more mentions in Gove’s Levelling Up plans than Shropshire – its Byzantine
Old Mother Shropshire went to the government to get the county a grant. When she went there the cupboard was bare. So the poor county got none. (Misremembered old nursery rhyme). On Wednesday Michael Gove, the Secretary of State for Levelling Up – he used to be Secretary of State for Growing Up – published the long awaited Levelling Up white paper. There is every hint that this policy paper was rushed out to distract from the ongoing tribulations of the prime minister. It includes paragraphs copied and pasted from Wikipedia. It mentions Jericho three times, ancient Rome twice and modern day Shropshire just once. It also mentions Byzantine, which might be a good description of the white paper. The exclusion of Shropshire and Telford & Wrekin from Levelling Up funding has led to both councils making protests to the government. Michael Gove has responded to Shropshire saying we would […]
Shropshire Council looks to reopening of biodigester but employment land in Ludlow will remain scarce
Shropshire Council today said that the biodigester facility on Coder Road could reopen but not for a while. The driver is the government’s resources and recycling strategy which, though the forthcoming Environment Bill is expected to insist that councils collect food waste separately from garden waste. If new life is breathed into the biodigester it will be a back to the future moment for Ludlow, when once again we will have food waste caddies and separate collection. Ludlow companies are struggling to find space to expand. It is vital that the proposed employment site south of Sheet Road opposite the Eco Park is prepared for use as soon as possible. Unfortunately, Shropshire Council, which is investing £1M in a solar farm in Oswestry to supply a packaging business, even though there will only be a minimal financial return to the council, doesn’t seem prepared to buy the land and get […]
Ludlow is running out of spaces for business – urgent action is needed
I have already written on the problems that engineering company Flowfit has had finding premises for expansion. It had hoped to move to the biodigester site but in recent weeks, Shropshire Council has ruled that out. The ground breaking biodigester closed in 2012 and has only had sporadic use since. Shropshire Council now says it will not decide on the biodigester’s future until the end of 2023, more than a decade after the facility stopped processing food waste. At least one other light engineering company was eyeing up the site. But it has now been sterilised for two and a half years. Council officers have told companies that employment land is in demand in South Shropshire. I am now asking for urgent action on providing employment land in Ludlow.