Shropshire Star

Traders' fears as Ludlow bridge stays shut

A bridge carrying one of the main routes into Ludlow will not re-open for May Day weekend festivities, it was revealed today.

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With Ludlow town centre set to be filled with fairground rides from tomorrow, it had been hoped that work on Ludford Bridge, at the town's southern entrance, would be complete.

But the Grade-I listed bridge across the River Teme, which has been closed since February, will stay shut – sparking fears it may hurt trade on one of the town's major tourist weekends and lead to traffic chaos. A section of the bridge wall was knocked through, taking stone work with it, in an accident involving a delivery lorry

Shropshire Council bosses today dismissed the concerns, saying they expect "minimal traffic disruption".

A meeting was held at the bridge yesterday between councillors and workers, where it became clear it would remain closed for at least another fortnight.

Councillor Andy Boddington said he had asked for the bridge to be re-opened just for the bank holiday weekend as he feared for the effect on Ludlow town centre during the annual May Fair.

He said: "I fear it will damage trade in Ludlow over the next week. This is May Fair week; it is the greatest spectacle in town.

"The May bank holiday is one of the busiest weekends of the year in Ludlow, we are likely to see a big increase in traffic.

"Roads in the town centre will be closed for the fair, we need Ludford Bridge open to ensure a clear flow of vehicles.

"Over Easter, we experienced gridlock in Ludlow with Ludford Bridge closed. The buses were so delayed by congestion that the park and ride was at times reduced to one bus an hour," he added.

But Councillor Simon Jones, who is Shropshire Council's cabinet member for highways and transportation, said: "There is likely to be minimal traffic disruption in the town with Ludford Bridge remaining closed.

"Car parks are clearly signed from all approaches into Ludlow, along with the Ludford Bridge diversion signing. Pedestrian access over Ludford Bridge will not be affected."

He said the only other option was to take down the scaffolding and then put it back up after, while putting up large concrete barriers and other safety measures and changing around all the current diversion signage. He said the disruption would mean the loss of almost a week's work, and cost £10,000 to £15,000 to carry out.

He said the workers were doing a "great job" repairing the ancient bridge using specialist methods.

He said: "We continue to work with Ringway to ensure that the work is completed as soon as practicably possible. Initial thoughts are that it may be possible to complete the repair work by May 13."

A mix of retrieved stone and new stone is now being used to rebuild the bridge, but must be done with traditional lime mortar using traditional methods, which needs temperatures of above six degrees to set.

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