Andy Boddington

Ludlow Town Council

Ludlow Town Council to tighten rules after complaints about noise in the town centre

It always concerns me when we have complaints about noise in the town centre. People generally deserve a quiet life. But some people seem to have moved here thinking the town centre is a quiet, sleepy place. Town centres that are quiet and sleepy are senile and they are at the edge of survival. They lose shops, they lose footfall and lose more shops in an ever declining vortex. Eventually all that is left are the charity shops, a pub or two and some downbeat cafes. You can see that fate in town centres across the country. That’s not Ludlow which still has a thriving town centre. Full of good shops and venues to eat and drink. We must ensure that the town centre continues to thrive, including by hosting entertainment. The starting point for this article is an agenda item to be discussed at Ludlow Town Council’s meeting tomorrow. The council is proposing advice to event organisers and a ban on amplified music on Events Square. I would have thought all of this could be sorted out by discussions with event organisers rather than a full council debate. The council paper is ill thought through and should be…

The beautiful game is coming home but not in politics

Trollies are being wheeled out of supermarkets stacked with booze. The BBQs will be lit to sear burgers and sausages to the point of incineration. It’s party time because it’s coming home. And the final is against Germany, our nation’s favourite enemy in what used to be called the beautiful game. Today’s newspapers are not only full of coverage of the Lionesses, they cover the other contest gripping the nation (or probably not actually). The battle to become Tory leader and the prime minister of our nation. With the backing on Ben Wallace, Tom Tugendhat and Brandon Lewis, Liz Truss probably thinks it’s all over. It is not over until the final whistle. I think most of us wish it was over. Why has the Conservative Party imposed this lengthy torture on us? It’s a huge home goal for the party, which is showing itself in the worst possible light. Not for nothing has the Tory party long been known as the nasty party and its nastiness is at the forefront of the leadership campaign.

Ludlow Town Council

Ludlow Town Council to elect two new councillors on Monday

The town council currently has two vacant seats, one in in Hayton Ward and another in Gallows Bank Ward. They are to be filled by co-option on Monday night. There in only one applicant for Hayton Ward and four candidates for Gallows Bank Ward. Each of candidates will be invited to speak for up to three minutes after which councillors will elect the two councillors by a simple majority. If a tie occurs, the candidate with the least votes is eliminated and a further vote taken. Ludlow Town Council meets in the Methodist Church at 7.00pm on Monday, 1 August.

Plans to convert Golden Moments into a townhouse approved

The Southern Planning Committee this afternoon approved plans to convert No 50 Broad Street, which has the Golden Moments restaurant on its ground floor, into a town house. The vote was near unanimous with one councillor abstaining. Most committee members were enthusiastic about the proposal. Councillors thought it would be better as a town house, including Viv Parry who said: “I really want this to go back to a residential house”. This decision is damaging to the retail and economic health of the town centre. It is the first time the Southern Planning Committee has made a decision that could close a legitimate business. But planning committee members had no regard for the popularity of the venue, or the fact it had been there for two decades. They had a chocolate box view of what Broad Street should look like and Golden Moments didn’t fit in to that.

Transport

Helen Morgan MP tables bill on improving rural bus services

Buses are the cinderella of transport. We hear a lot about trains, the inconvenience of delays, strikes and buckled rails. But we don’t hear much about buses. Yet there were more than four billion local bus passenger journeys in England in the year ending March 2020 before the pandemic. Numbers inevitably declined during the pandemic and have not yet recovered to pre-pandemic levels, especially among concessionary pass passengers. Many rural areas do not have a local train service. Rural buses are literally a lifeline. But unlike services in some cities, rural buses have been in steep decline. On Wednesday, Helen Morgan MP for North Shropshire, presented a bill to parliament with the aim of ensuring people living in market towns can access hospitals, GPs and other services by public transport every day of the week.