Ludlow Town Council asked to provide answers over collapsed wall
Ludlow Town Council (LTC) has again been asked to provide answers regarding how much it has spent on legal advice in the saga of a collapsed section of wall that has been rumbling on for over a decade.
The local authority is at loggerheads with the Parochial Church Council (PCC) over who should be liable for the upkeep and maintenance of the wall by St Laurence’s Church. The PCC has threatened the council with legal action, and in several meetings since LTC has discussed anything relating to the town wall in private.
Nevertheless, the issue continues to be brought up by people during meetings' public, open session. One person is Sebastian Bowen, a former chairman of Herefordshire Council who lives in Ludford, on the outskirts of Ludlow.
He says that the town clerk, Gina Wilding, has informed him that £138,475 had been spent on legal advice related to the collapsed town wall up to November 2025. Mr Bowen has also been informed that £25,000 had been spent on renting scaffolding, and £11,000 on storing unidentified goods.
Last October, the Information Commisioner’s Office told LTC that it had to disclose information that was requested after it previously withheld it.
Mr Bowen believes it is evident that the local authority “went to great lengths to conceal, obfuscate and avoid answering some quite simple and straightforward questions about the amount of public money spent on legal fees, scaffolding and storage relating to the wall”.
Speaking at an LTC meeting on December 1, Mr Bowen said: “It is scandalous that a council which has always professed to uphold high standards of transparency and accountability should have resorted to such tactics to try and bamboozle the public.”
He again brought up the issue at an extraordinary town council meeting on January 5, and wanted further information disclosed.
“I am grateful to the town clerk for clarifying that the amount spent on legal advice related to the collapsed town wall was £138,475 up to November 2025,” said Mr Bowen.
“On December 1, I also expressed severe disquiet about the fact that the council evidently went to great lengths to obfuscate and avoid answering some straightforward questions about expenditure of public funds.
“I also expressed concern about the reputational damage to the council from being compelled by the Information Commissioner to reveal this information.
“It is evident from the Information Commissioner’s decision notice that the efforts by the council to avoid revealing this requested information necessitated an extensive exchange of correspondence of a legal nature between the council and the Information Commissioner’s officer.
“Please can the town clerk state the total amount of money that was spent on obtaining legal advice relating to this subject matter of the Commissioner’s decision notice and when such expenditure was incurred?”
Ms Wilding did not answer Mr Bowen’s questions and has not responded to a request for comment from the Local Democracy Reporting Service.
