A LUDLOW town centre resident says the town is ‘shutting down’ and claims that local MP Philip Dunne has taken his eye off the ball because of his duties as Defence Procurement Minister.

John Diamond from Mill Street says that the town is shutting down under cuts from Shropshire Council but the MP seems oblivious to what is happening.

His anger comes as part of a chorus of concern about the future of key services in the town.

Philip Dunne has responded that this is unfair.

The row comes amidst claims that Ludlow will have to find £700,000 if services like a library in the town are to be retained.

This follows a proposal by Shropshire Council to slash costs as it grapples with a financial crisis.

“In the next days, Ludlow bus service will receive no support from the county council, the Assembly Rooms have to accept a fully repairable lease and repair the current roof problem,” said John Diamond.

“The council have suggested that in this year’s remit they should close Ludlow Library and Museum Resource Centre.

“Ludlow is closing down and to top it off the new lease on the hospital has been raised to an unfeasible high.

“At a meeting the other day which Philip Dunn was at, he said he had no idea that all this was happening. Well we are not part of this country’s Defence Programme so he wouldn't know.”

But the MP said that this was not fair and he is fighting for the town.

“I have been actively engaging with public sector bodies to fight Ludlow's corner, not least with the Department of Health and NHS Properties over the lease for the hospital and with Shropshire Council over attempts to secure an asset transfer for Ludlow Assembly Rooms,” said Philip Dunne, who added that he was instrumental in securing £250,000 for the Ludlow Museum and Resource Centre in last summer's budget.

The threat to services in Ludlow is causing major concerns throughout the town.

“Parish and town councils across Shropshire have been told by Shropshire Council that if they want museums, libraries, buses and street cleaning, they’ll have to take it on themselves,” said Andy Boddington, who represents Ludlow on Shropshire Council.

For Ludlow Town Council, this could mean picking up a tab of more than £700,000 – the biggest bill in the county outside of Shrewsbury.

This would involve more than doubling the money that Ludlow Town Council collects through the Council Tax precept.

Andy Boddington believes that even if there was a will to do this it would not be allowed by the Government without a referendum.

“Shropshire Council is suffering huge budget cuts imposed by George Osborne,” added Andy Boddington.

“The situation is made worse by its repeated inability to keep its finances in check. Overspends have become normal. The failure to raise council tax year on year since 2009 has left the council’s bank balance in a precarious state.

“Faced with this financial crisis, Shropshire Council has decided to abandon responsibility for delivering a whole range of services.”

“Services under threat in Ludlow include the library. This costs £116,060 to run each year.”

He said that leisure services are also threatened

“Ludlow Leisure Centre, run by Teme Leisure, costs the council £186,080 a year,” Andy Boddington added.

“If we can’t continue to run affordable leisure services in Ludlow, people’s health and wellbeing will decline. That will transfer the costs to adult social care and the health services.”

Shropshire Council declined to respond to all the concerns but admitted that the Leisure Centre is under threat.

“The leisure centres (bar Much Wenlock, which is managed by Shropshire Council) have all got different contracts with different providers currently, but are at risk of being decommissioned because the council would be forced to serve notice on them, if no contribution arrangements had been sorted,” said George Chandler, Shropshire Council’s Director of Commissioning.