£120,000 Ludlow museum project hits crisis

The thousands of pounds earmarked to transform Ludlow's Buttercross, which currently stands empty at the top of Broad Street, into a museum will no longer be available after March 31.

The shock news threatens to scupper not just the Buttercross museum project, but plans for an overhaul and modernisation of Ludlow's Assembly Rooms entertainment venue, where the museum is currently based. Until last week Ludlow town councillors thought they had until the end of June to make use of the money, granted via Shropshire Council under the Market Town Revitalisation Programme.

Newly elected Shropshire Councillor for Ludlow North, Andy Boddington, said the news had come as a nasty shock. He said: "Shropshire Council has announced we have to spend it by the end of the month. We've only spent about £7,000 so far. You try spending £113,000 in a couple of weeks – it's not easy. It's daft to fuss about this amount of money and destroy a project that's so good for our town.

"The Buttercross is a building on stilts, it's listed, it's ancient and it's going to have a museum, which is great," he said, adding that it freed up space in the Assembly Rooms for a major refurbishment to go ahead. If we don't get roll-on funding, we lose our new museum. We need this museum for the thousands of tourists that come to Ludlow for its heritage.

"If we don't move the museum out of the Assembly Rooms to the Buttercross, we can't finish the redevelopment of our main cultural centre."

He added: "Shropshire Council spent £10.5 million on a new museum in Shrewsbury that opened two years late. We are only asking for £120,000 and a few months' extension. Historic buildings are hard to work with. There are bound to be delays. Money for the Shrewsbury museum project was transferred from year to year. That should happen for Ludlow."

Mayor of Ludlow Councillor Jim Smithers said it had been agreed with Shropshire Council that funding would be available until June 2014. "The idea was to put a lift in and move the museum there. At this point in time, if we don't get the money, we don't know what we'll be able to do. A lot of the hold up has just been getting things sorted out. Now Shropshire Council Cabinet have decided no funding can be carried over into the next financial year.

"We can't see why not – that money was allocated back in 2011."

He said town councillors were meeting with Shropshire Council representatives to discuss the funding crisis today.

Gwilym Butler, Shropshire Council's Cabinet member for leisure, libraries and culture, said: "We are committed to supporting the creation of a new heritage facility at the Buttercross, and will be working with the town council to discuss and look to resolve funding matters."