High Street plan for town centre

A £250 million vision that would give Telford a proper, bustling High Street in the town centre and create more than 1,000 jobs was unveiled today.Development chiefs have launched their plan to build a "heart" for the town centre, with a bustling central street featuring bars, cafes and shops that would be busy day and night.

It would stretch from Telford International Centre up the hill through Southwater to the borough council headquarters.

Under the proposals from the town's development agency, work could start with a radical overhaul of the 30-acre site that houses the ice rink, library and Meeting Point House. Work could start as early as 2009.

Sarah Raper, chief executive of Transforming Telford, said: "I am very confident this will happen. That is how we are going to be judged. Everyone pays their taxes and they have an expectation."

Telford & Wrekin Council, English Partnerships and other bodies are putting in £30 million to draw another £220 million from private investors.

A key part of the plan is to have people living in the town centre, above shops and bars, which Telford is currently missing.

There may also be a new "leisure village", possibly on the town park's arena, but this, like the rest of the scheme, is still open to consultation and change.

And Mrs Raper said the scheme would encourage more people to use Telford town park with new links.

The plans are aimed at saving the town centre - which has been labelled "bland" - and giving a boost to economic development across the borough.