LOTTERY chiefs met this week to discuss Ledbury Places £2m application to secure the long-term future of six key town centre buildings.

Alex Clive, trustee of the Ledbury Places project and chairman of the Ledbury Civic Society said he understood that the Heritage Lottery meeting actually took place on Tuesday, January 27.

But the decision on whether Ledbury Places project is to get the townscape heritage grant it hopes for will not be made public until mid-February.

"Fingers crossed and all that," said Mr Clive.

He revealed that a three-strong Heritage Lottery delegation came to Ledbury shortly before Christmas to ask questions about the application and to see the six buildings in question.

These are the town's iconic building - the Market House; the Elizabeth Barrett Browning Institute; the Town Council offices; the Heritage Centre; the Butchers' Row Museum and the Burgage Hall.

The aim of the Ledbury Places scheme is to "examine ways and means of ensuring their long-term economic viability by putting them to the best possible use for the community in the future."

Mr Clive said of the grant application: "It's hard to say how it will go. Before Christmas, they asked lots of questions but gave nothing away."

One Ledbury Places idea is for the possibility of a "sympathetically designed lift system" in the Market House building, so everyone can to have access to the first floor.

This could lead to the Market House, a listed seventeenth century building which currently does not have disabled access, being used as a Heritage Centre, with displays for visitors.

It could also be used once again for weddings.

Ledbury Places has also looked into the possibility of converting the first floor of the existing Heritage Centre, in Church Lane, or part of the Town Council building into holiday letting accommodation.

The Ledbury Places project is a national pilot scheme, and it could inspire similar projects elsewhere in the UK.