Projects boosted by £4m windfall

Euro chiefs have handed Telford £4 million to spend on a catalogue of improvement projects in and around the Ironbridge Gorge World Heritage site, it was revealed today.

The bumper cash handout will go to pay for a total of 24 developments, including the expansion of the Railfreight terminal and the creation of a showpiece Enterprise Headquarters at the heart of the famous site.

Members of Telford & Wrekin Council's ruling cabinet will meet next Monday to formally approve the spending of the windfall which is the latest to come from the European Region Development Fund.

Meeting an end-of-the-year deadline to spend the grant was a key condition of securing the money and Councillor Eric Carter, the council's cabinet member for Regeneration, said: "I am extremely pleased that we have been successful in securing this additional, significant amount of money."

He added: "We are going to work and fund existing projects and the ERDF grant will enable the council to deliver additional works across the borough that we would not otherwise be able to accomplish.

"Because we are obliged to spend this money by the end of the year, this places an even greater emphasis on effective partnership working to meet these exacting deadlines."

The largest project to benefit will be a £1.2 million scheme to extend the Railfreight terminal and boost its capacity so that it is able to handle four trains per day, instead of just two or three.