Gas pipe roadworks spark Ludlow tourism fears
Ludlow town centre will be dug up as about 700 metres of gas pipes are scheduled to be replaced.
But with no firm dates as to when the work will take place, councillors have raised concerns it may hit the town's main tourist and festival season hard.
The works are set to take place at various points around the town, including High Street, Castle Street, King Street, Bull Ring and Broadgate in the town centre, New Road and Ludford Bridge at the north and south entrances to the town, as well as Temeside, Glencoe Terrace and Steventon New Road.
Andy Boddington, Shropshire councillor for Ludlow North, said: "A major programme of gas mains replacement is planned for Ludlow during 2015.
"Streets from New Road to Temeside will be closed or controlled with traffic signals at some point.
"The work will involve a mixture of open trenches for pipe replacement and intermittent pits for slip lining existing pipework.
"There are no dates for the works yet, we are arranging meetings with the contractors and council officials.
"It's got to be timed to ensure it does not disrupt our festivals, because we rely on them – for example some of the work is on High Street and we can't have that dug up in the tourist season.
"The worry is that they'll think about it in three month's time and that means the work will be taking place mid-summer.
"I don't think they understand what a unique town Ludlow is – the streets are very narrow and we are a tourist town, we can't afford to lose tourism at peak season."
Jane Taylor, for the National Grid, said: "There will be about 700 metres of gas pipe that we are replacing. It is in various places around Ludlow town centre.
"In some places it is quite a small amount, for example there is a single road crossing in Broad Street, but in Castle Street there is a run of about seven metres.
"There are lots of packages of work, and it won't all be going on at the same time.
"At the moment we don't have a start date or a schedule of what will happen first, but we hope to start in the spring and the work should take about 15 weeks.
"We are discussing with the council the best time to go into the town, and we want to cause as little disruption as possible.
"We will do our best to avoid carnivals and festivals, and with a job like this there there are lots of bits we should be able to work our way around that," she added.
