Ludlow writer and councillor
Shropshire Council planners have given planning permission for the demolition of Harvest House and its replacement by a modern 4-storey residential block with 11 apartments for young people (16/00761/FUL).
I support this development, as does the town council, but I wanted the scheme to go to the South Planning Committee for decision.
Continue reading “Foyer expansion planning gets go ahead from council planners”
Today is a national day of action. #StartsAtHome aims to highlight the importance of supported social housing, including projects like the Ludlow Foyer. Young people have been out in the Market Square today, explaining how the Foyer is helping them get from a crisis into work, education and training. They are telling people that funding for the Foyer is under threat from national and local budget cuts. There is every danger that, despite its groundbreaking work, the Foyer will close in 2018.
Closing Ludlow Foyer would be crazy. It would mean that young people would end up on the streets and would not get the help they need to get a good start in adult life.
Please sign the petition urging Shropshire Council to protect funding for the Foyer.
Continue reading “Vital campaign to save Ludlow Foyer launches on #StartsAtHome Day”
The prospect of 40 new retirement apartments at Stone House has caused some consternation. Several people have commented that we should be concentrating on homes for young people, not increasing the retired population in the town. I have commented on this in a recent post.
We know that Ludlow’s population is older than average but what are the trends?
Over the last decade, Ludlow has become older at a slightly faster rate than Shropshire as a whole and at a much faster rate than all of England. New projections from the Office of National Statistics suggest that one-third of Shropshire residents will be aged 65 or over by 2039.[1] In some areas of Ludlow, more than a third of the population is already of this age. If current trends continue, 40% of Ludlow will be elderly by 2039.
The big question is does this matter? Should our town and county grow old gracefully or should we develop policies to encourage younger people to live and work here?
Shropshire Housing Group has applied for planning permission to extend Ludlow’s Foyer (16/00761/FUL). The plans involve demolishing Harvest House and building a new wing to the existing Marston’s Mill building. The extension will be clad in weathered copper shingles. A new reception area will be built on the railway side between the two wings.
Marston’s Mill is home to Ludlow Foyer, a housing project that provides accommodation for up to 15 young people young people aged 16-25. To reside in the Foyer, young people need to commit to training, education and employment. The new building will provide 11 additional residential units.
I see in the Ludlow Advertiser Philip Dunne is welcoming the increase in young people applying to go university. He fails to mention that his own constituency is performing worse than much of England. Ludlow used to be ahead of the game but is now trailing behind.
The data released by UCAS earlier this month are really quite shocking. All of Shropshire is falling behind the rest of England in university admissions. We would have more than 200 extra students applying to go to university every year if we achieved the national average.
When Philip Dunne was elected as our MP ten years ago, just 181 of the 533 constituencies in England had a higher rate of university applications than Ludlow. In 2016, 301 constituencies do better than Ludlow. That’s not a good track record.