Latest Telford News...

Winter Winners: December school holiday activities on offer

Telford EntertainmentTelford News

A packed programme of activities is on offer across Shropshire and Telford & Wrekin this winter thanks to a local charity – including the chance for young people to learn bushcraft.

4 All Foundation has this week announced the dates and locations for its Christmas holiday programme, with children eligible for free school meals (FSMs) able to attend for free. Activities will vary each day but will include multi-sports, dance, baking, arts and crafts, and outside activities (weather permitting).

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Improvements to community centre outdoor area thanks to local developer

HighlightsTelford BusinessTelford News

A Telford community centre has received a welcome boost to its outdoor space, thanks to a generous donation from the construction firm behind a new housing development nearby.

RSJ Builders, which recently completed 19 new homes for Housing Plus Group off Furnace Lane in Trench, has donated outdoor furniture and a raised planter to Silver Threads Hall.

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Pedestrian involved in supermarket car park collision

FeatureTelford CrimeTelford News

A large Police response at a Telford supermarket this afternoon. Multiple police vehicles and personnel were on scene at Farmfoods in Ketley in Telford.

Police have said that “Following a report received around 3pm this afternoon (27 November), officers are currently at the scene of a collision between a pedestrian and car within a car park off Holyhead Road in Telford.”

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Student buzzing after beekeeping film wins festival prize

FeatureTelford EntertainmentTelford NewsTelford People

Film Production student Taylor Smith won Best Documentary at the recent Napier Student Film Festival, which celebrates student filmmakers from around the world.

Taylor, 21, from Telford, said: “It feels amazing to have won this award because I am incredibly proud of this documentary. It was really fun to make and it felt very rewarding when it was complete. I was happy with how it turned out, so it’s really nice to know that other people also felt this way when they watched it.”

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£400,000 to support Telford residents to become more active

FeatureTelford NewsTelford People

The initial funding award of over £400,000 will run until March 2027, with work focussing on understanding why people aren’t currently active; supporting them to find ways to change; support that continued active lifestyle and build healthy habits across children, young people, health, social care and green spaces so that all people can enjoy a healthy lifestyle.

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Tighter controls on Telford HMOs up for discussion

FeatureTelford NewsTelford Talking Shop

The article 4 direction would remove the option for landlords of smaller HMOs to use permitted development rights and would therefore require them to seek planning permission for a new HMO, regardless of size. Existing HMOs would be unaffected by these changes.

The planning changes would allow the Council to know where all HMOs are located and to consider what the impact of new HMOs would be on the wider community and local services.

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Shropshire companies give Budget the thumbs-down

FeatureTelford Business

A wide range of firms said there was little in Rachel Reeves’ long-awaited and much-leaked speech to give the business community the confidence it needed to thrive in the coming year.

Telford-based civil engineering and construction contractor McPhillips, which directly employs 240 people and has delivered more than 140 projects worth £300million in the last five years, said today’s budget “fell short of the mark”.

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Housing unit for care leavers approved on second attempt

FeatureTelford NewsTelford People

Planners at Telford & Wrekin Council have told Elpis Children Services Limited that they accept that four young adults and carers can form a household meaning that there is no technical change of use of a property in Great Dawley.

The decision means that the company does not have to go through the full planning application process for the move.

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New home for Cats Protection shop

HighlightsTelford BusinessTelford NewsTelford People

The volunteers at Cats Protection were concerned they may have to close for good due to the regeneration of the historic Wellington Market but they have now moved into a new location which was previously held by Spirit of Bulgaria in the Market Piazza.

The new unit will enable the volunteer-run branch to continue its cat welfare work and support local cat-lovers.

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£50k plan for supervised toothbrushing in Telford

FeatureTelford NewsTelford People

Earlier this year Telford & Wrekin Council was given £50,984 to after the Government announced plans to implement a national targeted supervised toothbrushing programme for children aged three, four and 5 years in the most deprived communities.

This week the council’s health and wellbeing board will be updated on how the Brilliant Brushers scheme is doing.

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Change to change the way prescriptions are ordered

FeatureTelford News

The Prescription Ordering Direct (POD) service is being decommissioned and phased out by the end of November. The phone- and email-based system was introduced in 2016/17 to help reduce medicine waste.

But a review found that it duplicated what some GP practices and the NHS app was already doing. Its cost on the local health and care system was put at more than £1 million each year.

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Time to replace historic Telford museum’s leaky roof, planners told

HighlightsTelford News

Architects have told Telford & Wrekin Council that the ground floor of the Long Warehouse at Coalport China Museum has been subjected to regular flooding.

This, says Stephen Oliver of Oliver Architecture in Birmingham, means “the high humidity left within the building contributes to the failing of internal decorations”.

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New fund launched for young people

Telford BusinessTelford NewsTelford People

A new £20,000 grant has been launched to empower young people facing barriers to education, employment, and training across Telford & Wrekin and the wider Shropshire region. The fund will provide grants of up to £5,000 to grassroots organisations delivering youth-led, creative, skills, and mentoring projects.

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£400k Rates rise at new fire HQ ” was not anticipated”

FeatureTelford News

Shropshire’s fire service has been hit by an un-anticipated £400,000 increase in its rates bill after work at Telford’s fire station increased the value of the property, a meeting was told.

“That figure is currently with a consultant who is working on an appeal on that number to verify that that number is in fact correct.” said Joanne Coadey, the head of finance at the fire authority.

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Fire chiefs set aside more cash as national pay talks loom

HighlightsTelford News

Last year the Shropshire and Wrekin Fire and Rescue Authority estimated that a national agreement would lead to a pay award of two per cent – but staff were given a 3.2 per cent increase instead.

A meeting was told this week that the authority dug into ‘contingencies’ to be able to find the extra £150,000 for this year.

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Telford Day And Christmas Activities Launching 29 November

FeatureTelford EntertainmentTelford News

There is less than a week to go before the first Telford Day event kicks off a host of celebrations and Christmas activity in Telford.

The Made In Telford Christmas Makers Market will launch Telford Day activities and will be open from 10am in Southwater featuring local artisan crafts. Alongside the market, the Christmas Yurt will have activities on throughout the day including a film screening of Cinderella with children’s activities from 10.30am.

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Green party hits out after Telford & Wrekin Council ‘refuses to accept’ Israel question

Telford NewsTelford Talking Shop

The question, submitted by the party’s co-ordinator Pat McCarthy, asked: “Will this council recognise the genocide in Gaza, as concluded by the UN, and end our financial complicity?

“The situation demands that you halt all spending on Israeli goods and divest our pension funds from Israeli assets. To do otherwise is to make our community complicit in these atrocities.”

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Be safe in your car, FLOWER

FeatureTelford News

This year’s theme, Safe Vehicles Save Lives, highlights the importance of vehicle safety in preventing collisions and reducing casualties. In 2024 in Telford and Wrekin there were 150 casualties, of which 37 were seriously injured with three fatalities, a reminder of how vulnerable everyday road users can be.

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Tennis and Padel announcement for Telford Tennis Centre

FeatureTelford NewsTelford Sport

Telford & Wrekin Council have announced a new long term partnership agreement with We Do Tennis Community Interest Company (CIC) which will see further growth in the tennis programme and a significant investment to bring the sport of Padel to Telford Tennis Centre.

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New Reform UK Councillor to ‘lead the way’

HighlightsTelford NewsTelford People

Labour held on to the third of the seats – in Wellington’s Haygate ward – where the party did not face a Reform UK challenge but saw off the Conservatives, the Green Party and the Lib Dems.

Alan Adams, a former Navy submariner who finished in second place in Telford in last year’s general election, swept to victory in Oakengates Town Council’s Oakengates and Wombridge Ward.

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‘Dig in and fight’ – Opponents rally against Newport housing plan

FeatureTelford NewsTelford People

An estimated 100 residents flocked to the village hall in Church Aston on freezing Thursday evening to hear that Councillor Eade, the Conservative group leader at Telford & Wrekin Council and representative for Church Aston & Lilleshall, has “called in” the application for a decision by the planning committee.

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Ask Tom customer AI system ‘knows what Ab-Dab means’ meeting in Telford told

Telford News

A council’s automatic Ask Tom phone answering system is learning the local language in Telford, councillors have been told.

After the artificial intelligence system was launched as a trial in August 2024 it was condemned by one councillor as “universally awful”.

But clever young Tom is getting better, a report to the audit committee noted.

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Charity shop returns to refurbished Oakengates store

FeatureTelford BusinessTelford News

ExtraCare is now up and running at its original location in Oakengates town centre after a temporary move to 33 Market Street.

Oakengates ExtraCare charity shop, which works to create better lives for older people, is now back to 39 Market Street after the unit and shop frontage was completely refurbished.

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Telford children’s home plan withdrawn

HighlightsTelford News

A care company has withdrawn an application to use a terraced house in Telford as a children’s home after council planners raised concerns, the council has confirmed

Agents for Lovemark Care Ltd have responded after Telford & Wrekin Council officials raised issues of parking arrangements at the property in Hadley and over engagement with its care commissioning team.

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