PEOPLE from Ludlow are being urged to send a message that planners cannot ignore.

Campaigners are urging as many people as possible to go to Shrewsbury next Tuesday afternoon (October 11) to show their support for the future of the town’s independent shops.

In what has been described as a ‘last fight’, the ‘Love Ludlow’ campaign wants to make sure that planners have no doubt that a new out-of-town supermarket is not wanted.

The southern area planning committee of Shropshire Council will be considering an outline application to build a new supermarket and petrol station in Rocks Green.

Ludlow Chamber of Commerce and the campaigners feel that if approval is given and the supermarket goes ahead it will put up the 'closed' notice permanently on some of the shops in the town centre and also cost jobs.

“The Love Ludlow working campaign group is standing up to fight for the town,” said Tish Dockerty, who chairs the campaign group.

“With the outline application for the Dun Cow site about to go to Shropshire Council Planning Committee from a speculative developer for a substantial ‘out of town’ supermarket many local traders and residents are still questioning the rationale behind the application.

“We will fight this on the day, we have a number of people that will be standing up and speaking on behalf of the town and we will make sure that all councillors who sit on the planning committee understand our plight.”

She has made a plea for people to make the journey to Shirehall on Tuesday (October 11) to show the strength of feeling.

Ian Ray, owner and proprietor of Walls butchers on the High Street is one of the town centre traders who is very worried.

He believes a new supermarket would be hugely detrimental to his business and would lead to redundancies.

A report commissioned for Shropshire Council suggests that a new out-of-town supermarket could reduce trade in the town centre by about 10 per cent but others fear the impact would be much greater.

The Chamber of Commerce and the ‘Love Ludlow’ campaign say that, even at the lower end, such a loss of business would be enough to put some shops out of business.

Those in favour of the supermarket believe it would provide jobs and stop people having to travel to places like Leominster, Hereford, Kidderminster and Shrewsbury for a main shop.

But Tish Dockerty disagrees and says that there is not just the issue of loss of trade to consider.

“The Love Ludlow campaign understand that there will be new houses built on the outskirts of Ludlow in time, but this does not require such a large store that will dominate our landscape, create congestion around the entrance to Rocks Green and compete with our in-town supermarkets and independent shops,” she added.

“We have a very good range of places to go and shop, ranging from Aldi to local shops, to the Ludlow Food Centre, there’s already something for everyone.”

Muff Murfin, chairman of Ludlow Chamber of Commerce, thinks Ludlow's reputation is on the line.

“It is a great shame as we keep getting told how lovely Ludlow is and this is because we still have a proper high street," he said. "Basically we could see a number of butchers and bakers close down as a result of this, which would be a loss of valuable jobs, damage Ludlow’s vibrant high street as well as our great reputation as a food destination.”