Telford unveils bid to attract investment

The Invest in Telford scheme will see businesses offered free support and a number of projects developed to attract more investors to the borough.

It is part of a plan to cement Telford's status as the fastest growing town in the West Midlands.

Officials at Telford & Wrekin Council, who are behind the scheme, have said the population of Telford is expected to raise by 20,000 people over the next 18 years.

The project will be launched by council chiefs on June 18.

Work has started on the town's £250 million Southwater development, which will include a multi-screen cinema, hotel, supermarket and other shops and offices.

Charlotte Dade, spokeswoman for Telford & Wrekin Council, said: "We believe that it is important for us to lead the way in helping our local economy to grow and prosper.

"With this in mind, we are working hard on projects such as our £250m town centre development at Southwater which will boost our night time economy create employment and attract new visitors to the town.

"Not only this, but we are investing £18m into our road networks to make sure that our infrastructure grows to support this population growth.

"This will make sure that we continue to offer strong links to major cities and airports across the UK.

"With 400 acres of ready-to-go commercial land and a workforce catchment area that equates to over 300,000 people, Telford has so much to offer to investors and so we think it's about time we blew our own trumpet."

The launch of Invest in Telford has been timed to coincide with the largest plastics exhibition in the UK which will be taking place at the Telford International Centre.

More than 6,000 delegates are expected to attend Plastics Design and Moulding 2013 on June 18 and19, and the event is anticipated to generate about £1.2 million of economic investment.

For more information on the Invest in Telford programme contact Telford & Wrekin Council's business support and tourism team on (01952) 567589.