Shropshire Council should get a loan to keep Ludlow services open, councillors claim

Members of Ludlow Town Council have said it will take up to two years to draw up a plan for taking over key community services.

They will ask officials at Shirehall to take out the loan to cover the costs of running Ludlow Library and Ludlow Museum Resource Centre, both in Parkway, and South Shropshire Leisure Centre off Bromfield Road until 2018.

It comes despite Shropshire Council announcing plans to cut its budget for leisure services, museums and tourism to zero from April next year as part of multi-million cost-saving measures.

Shirehall has currently budgeted to spend £707,620 on libraries, museums and arts venues in Ludlow for the coming year.

Of that, £279,110 is allocated for arts, culture and museums – including Ludlow Assembly Rooms, Ludlow Museum and Ludlow Museum Resource Centre – £186,080 on the town's leisure centre and £116,060 on the library.

The unitary authority wants town and parish councils to take on the running of libraries and other community services.

But town councillors in Ludlow have said they will stand their ground and say that it cannot be done in such a short timescale – and hiking council tax for the town's residents by £200 a year is not a solution.

Town clerk Gina Wilding said members would suggest Shropshire Council take out a loan to cover costs until April 2018 to give the town council time to draw up "a sustainable long-term plan". "Members feel this is being rushed and there is the potential for disaster in that," she said.

Councillor Graeme Perks suggested the loan idea at Ludlow Town Council's annual meeting on Wednesday. He said: "We don't have time to set up a working group or take a considered approach."

Councillor Andy Boddington said he and Ludlow's other three Shropshire councillors were behind town councillors on the matter.