A PROJECT to measure how well Ludlow is doing as a community will be undertaken in the New Year.

The ‘benchmarking’ will be led by south Shropshirebased Skillbuilders and will follow a format adopted in Tenbury and other market towns around the country.

Ludlow Chamber of Trade has provided £200 towards the exercise and Ludlow Town Council has still to decide if it will make a contribution, which would enable young people to be involved in the process.

The benchmarking model has been developed through the Market Town Partnership and is IT-based, which enables the survey to be conducted on a small budget.

A number of factors are taken into account in preparing the score, including the number and type of shops, the number of empty properties, car parking and how it is being used and the income generated from the rent and leasing of property.

There are also surveys of business confidence and customer satisfaction.

“By using this, a town can get an objective view of how well it is doing and how well it compares with other places,” said Graeme Perks of Skillbuilders. “It is a chance to learn from others and the information can be used to inform decision making and also to assist applications for funding.”

In some towns, including Tenbury, young people are trained to help with some of the survey work but this is not planned for Ludlow unless the town council decides to put some money behind the scheme.