A CRUMBLING section of the historic town wall is not the responsibility of Ludlow Town Council.

This is the clear message sent by town clerk Gina Wilding in response to a letter about the issue from Shropshire Council.

Ludlow Town Council says that the section of wall at the bottom of St Lawrence's Churchyard is nothing to do with it and it must be sorted out between St Laurence's Parochial Church Council and Shropshire Council.

She said that confusion appears to have arisen because in the past the town council has undertaken work on the churchyard.

But Ms Wilding says that this work was undertaken on a contract basis for the church and does not signify any ownership or responsibility on the part of the town council.

“Ludlow Town Council has written to Shropshire Council to confirm that the collapsed wall at St Laurence’s Church, Ludlow, was owned by St Laurence's Parochial Church Council and the maintenance of the churchyard was legally transferred to Shropshire Council under s215 Local Government Act 1972 in 2012,” said Ms Wilding.

She said that the issue is an important one and any suggestion that the town council is responsible has to be corrected.

“Ludlow Town Council has not taken part in discussions regarding the collapsed wall because it has no responsibility in this matter," added Ms Wilding.

“The town council is supportive of Ludlow’s Town Wall Trust and provides a grant of £2,000 per annum to demonstrate this support. Ludlow’s mayor and councillors would like to see repair works undertaken as soon as possible."

Who is responsible for the section of wall is so critical because of the huge implications of the cost of repair.

Because of the size of the job and the historic nature of the walls, repairs have to be undertaken in accordance with strict specifications from English Heritage. This could result in a bill running into hundreds of thousands of pounds and could bankrupt the town council if it was responsible.

As the walls date back hundreds of years and the failures are a result of wear and tear it is unlikely that the cost of repairs could be met from insurance.

Ludlow Town Walls are a listed ancient monument and were built between 1233 and 1304. They were part of larger town defences that were completed in 1499.

The original walls were fronted by a ditch that is now largely filled in.

Maintenance is not a new issue with grants to support this work issued as early as 1294 and 1309 but there has been little major work carried out. However, the first major problems became clear in 2010 in the vicinity of the Castle Street car park.

More than £1 million has so far been spent on repairs and maintenance but ownership of the complete wall is in many different hands and cost of a complete restoration would cost many millions of pounds.