The battle lines are drawn. Ludlow Town Council has procrastinated and delayed over repairs to the town wall behind St Laurence’s Church which collapsed in February 2013 for far too long. Despite agreeing to lead a partnership on the repairs in 2015, it has manifestly failed to do that. It been bunkered behind closed doors debating legal advice and keeping to itself a near £40,000 report by heritage experts, the Morton Partnership. This report is so secret that the council will only show it to a small group of people. Even then it will be redacted and the recipients will need to sign a non-disclosure agreement.
Now, the recently revitalised Ludlow Town Walls Trust, the Parochial Church Council (PCC) and the Diocese of Hereford have told the council enough is enough. The PCC’s lawyers have submitted a freedom of information request for the Morton Report. The reasons for the town council’s secrecy are unknown and neither is the reason why it will not collaborate on the repairs as it agreed in 2015.
This is the end game on the town walls for the town council. It must respond to the legal letters and urgently work with others to get the walls repaired. If not, the PCC’s legal team says the town council will be exposed to “serious risk of financial and reputational damage, and possibly of being found negligent, especially is a further collapse or damage to the church’s foundations occurs.”
This situation need not have happened. The town council has adopted a “nothing to do with us” mentality and sought to pass the buck to Shropshire Council. In doing so, the PCC says the town council has incurred more than £100,000 in legal fees. If the town council had taken responsibility and led on the repairs as agreed in 2015, the wall would have been repaired and costs would have been significantly lower.
The town clerk is also under attack by the Residents Association. However, decisions are made by councillors and it is the councillors that are responsible for this debacle that should be held to account. I can’t support the Residents Association’s call for a vote of no confidence in the clerk. It is misconceived.
Background
A section of the town walls behind St Laurence’s Church collapsed in February 2013. Shropshire Council immediately pledged to pay for the work, only to backtrack saying it was not legally responsible. In August 2014, the emergency buttressing to prevent further collapse was already a sorry state. Cracks had already appeared in St Laurence’s Church. Talks were underway on repairs to the wall but no action had been taken. In September, former Shropshire Council leader, Keith Barrow, tweeted that the walls were Ludlow Town Council’s responsibility but in answer to a question from me said discussions were still going on with the Parochial Church Council (PCC) and Ludlow Town Council in order to establish where responsibility lies. Temporary but inadequate repairs to the buttress were completed in November that year.
In October 2015, I reported: “It has been formally agreed that all the parties will work together, led by Ludlow Town Council, to manage the necessary repairs to preserve the historic site of St Laurence’s and maintain this part of the ancient walls, for the benefit of the people of Ludlow.” I optimistically and perhaps foolishly suggested that work could begin the following spring.
With no sign of progress, I proposed in 2017 that the underspending Ludlow Town Council appoint a heritage champion to lead on the project. That fell on deaf ears but in 2020, seven years after the collapse, the town centre appointed heritage specialists Morton Partnership. To fund this the council took out a £38,545 loan over 30 years at 2.5%.
Current action
Roll on a further four years and there is still no sign of the town council progressing with repairing the walls. But it now faces pressure from other parties to act. The newly reinvigorated Town Walls Trust, led by heritage expert Colin Richards, is raising its voice in protest at the lack of action. In this it is joined by the Parochial Church Council which is threatening legal action against the council and the Diocese of Hereford. To add to the pressure, the Ludlow Residents Group, chaired in a personal capicity by town councillor Darren Childs, is organising a vote of no confidence against the town clerk. It is not clear how this will be presented to the town council. It is also councillors who are responsible for decisions.
In letter to town councillors from lawyers Norris and Miles, the Parochial Church Council accuses the town council of sowing doubt on responsibility for repairs of the walls and delaying repairs. It says it understands that the Morton Report has only been shared with a small group of councillors on a need to know basis. In October 2024, a council vote agreed that the Morton Report could be shared with the PCC, Shropshire Council and the town walls trust but only if they signed a four year non disclosure agreement. The PCC has rejected this gagging clause and asks whether some councillors voted without having sight of the unredacted report. There is no mincing of words in the Norris and Miles letter:
“We are now in a position where a great deal of time has been spent in unconstructive activity (and many thousands of pounds of public money spent on legal advice) all of which has had a negative, rather than positive effect on progress towards solving the practical problem of repairing the wall. The cost of the repairs will also, inevitably, increased greatly as a result of the long delays… Our client’s view is that the public interest is not being well served by the actions of the LTC, nor are the interests of the community which the LTC exists to serve.
“In this situation, our clients now appeal to the Council urgently to alter its bunker mentality and engage in open, unfettered and constructive dialogue with other willing partners, such as the PCC, SC and the Ludlow Town Walls Trust, and also the Resident’s Group and English Heritage, about how to address the problem as a community, including looking at different ways of effecting the repairs and possible means of funding the cost.”
If Ludlow Town Council does not act to work with others to get the wall rebuilt in a reasonable timescale, the PCC has given instructions to Norris and Miles to put the council on notice that it will initiate proceedings for a judicial review to compel the council to fulfil its duties. The PCC will also to file a complaint to the Local Government Ombudsman.
Norris and Miles estimate that Ludlow Town Council has spent more than £100,000 on legal fees over the last 11 years.
A judicial review will cost the Ludlow Town Council tens of thousands of pounds, all public money paid for by households in the town through the precept. Not only will Ludlow Town Council have to pay for its legal representation for the judicial review, but it could also be liable to pay the PCC’s costs if it loses.
If councillors have acted within the rules, they will not be individually liable. The electorate will in any case have a remedy in the May 2025 local elections when they can replace existing councillors.
In a coordinated letter, the Diocese of Hereford said it is “greatly concerned about the risk of further land slippage on the foundations of this historically and architecturally important church.” Like the PCC, the diocese does not pull its punches:
“This is not a situation which can responsibily be allowed to persist. Instead of taking the lead in progressing the repairs, as the Ludlow Town Council agreed to do in 2015, the council has been dragging its feet and in receny years sought to reopen the legal debate about whether responsibility for maintenace of the wall lies with Ludlow Town Council or Shropshire Council.
“Our concerns are such that we are bound to put you on formal notice that, if tangible progress is not made rapidly in carrying out the repairs, we will advise the PCC to seek a court order requiring Ludlow Town Council to fulfil its agreed responsibilities. We reserve the right to seek damages from Ludlow Town Council for the harm cause to the PCC in effective the repairs.”
PCC Freedom of Information request to Ludlow Town Council
This is a summary of the freedom of information request submitted by Norris and Miles on behalf of the PCC. Ludlow Town Council must respond by the first working day of the New Year. If it does not or refuses claiming an exemption, the PCC can appeal to the council to reexamine its decision and if the town council doesn’t change its mind, it can take the matter to the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO). Given that the PCC is determined enough to engage lawyers, it would be in Ludlow Town Council’s interest and the interests of all parties to provide the information.
- An unredacted copy of the Morton Report.
- The cost of the report.
- Have all town councillors been given access to the report and if so, when? If not, why not?
- Did Ludlow Town Council have an insurance policy in place in February 2013 which might have covered the repair?
- Has a claim been made on any insurance policy for the collapsed wall?
- If a claim was made and refused, what were the reasons?
- Does Ludlow Town Council have in place an insurance policy which covers any futures collapses of the wall at St Laurence’s Church and damage to the church?
- What insurance does the town council have for other sections of the town wall for which it is responsible?
- Have all town councillors been given access to all legal advice about the collapsed wall since February 2013, if so, when. If not, why not?
- The full cost of legal advice to Ludlow Town Council on the collapsed wall between 1 February 2013 and 31 December 2019.
- The full cost of legal advice to Ludlow Town Council on the collapsed wall since 1 January 2020.
- How much has been spent by Ludlow Town Council between 1 February 2014 and today’s date on a) renting scaffolding for the temporary buttress of the wall b) renting storage space for items owned by third parties displaced by the collapse. Provide an itemised list of the goods in storage and their approximate value.
- Provide minutes of meetings or other documentation showing the approval by town councillors of the cost of legal advice relating to the cost of the wall since 1 January 2016.
- Provide copies of all correspondence between Ludlow Town Council and Shropshire Council since 1 January 2012, concerning responsibility for the maintenance of the collapsed section of the town wall.
- Provide copies of all correspondence between Ludlow Town Council and Shropshire Council since 1 September 2015 concerning repairs to the collapsed wall.