THE ongoing saga of a collapsed historic wall in Ludlow is among the top issues for locals as a new group holds its first public meeting.

The ‘Ludlow residents’ Facebook group was founded by Councillor Darren Childs in November with the aim of giving locals a way to express their concerns about issues such as housing, parking and the problems facing small businesses in the town.

Coun Childs said he decided to establish the group after hearing of one local experiencing difficulty reporting a problem with the former Costa premises in Castle Street.

On seeing that there was not an existing local issues forum that he found satisfactory, he created the residents’ group to allow people living in and around the town to publicly bring matters to the attention of other locals as well as elected officials.

The group quickly gained traction, accumulating over 350 members in its first month and catching the attention of news outlets such as BBC Radio Shropshire.

A significant milestone in the groups progress came on January 13, when they held a public meeting at Ludlow women’s centre, with local politicians, business-owners and activists all in attendance.

According to Councillor Andy Boddington more than 70 people made their way to the meeting to make their views on local matters known.

“We discussed a range of issues including the arts based development at Ludlow Community Hospital, increases in parking charges, crime and policing, bus services, empty shops, the need to smarten up some buildings in the town centre and the collapsed town wall,” he said.

“I was impressed by the quality of the comments and how much people were engaged and informed by what was happening locally.”