Highway improvements pave way for hundreds of new Telford homes

Council bosses say the work is a "huge step" towards bringing forward new, high quality homes to the borough which will help meet local demand.

Existing residents will also benefit from the upgraded footpaths and cycleways.

The work on the site off Donnington Wood Way was funded by the Marches Local Enterprise Partnership (LEP) as a part of the £7m Stronger Communities package, secured in 2020, to enable a series of sites across the borough and drive the delivery of new homes and jobs.

The new development at Donnington Wood Way will see 329 new homes thanks to a partnership between Telford & Wrekin Council, Nuplace, Lovell Partnerships and Wrekin Housing Group.

Councillor David Wright, Telford & Wrekin Council’s cabinet member for housing, said: “We’re extremely grateful to the LEP for providing the funding which has allowed us to prepare for this new development.

"We had to work very quickly to deliver the works in order to meet LEP funding timescales and are very glad we managed to meet the programme.

"This is a huge step towards bringing forward new, high quality and sustainable development to the borough which will meet local housing need whilst also ensuring existing residents get to benefit from the improvements – particularly around the upgraded footpaths and cycleways.”

The highway improvements were completed by the council's partner and highways contractor Balfour Beatty.

The scheme installed two new highway accesses off Donnington Wood Way to serve the new development, plus some upgrades to footpaths and cycleways.

Work included new signalised junctions and pedestrian crossings, including a new signalised pedestrian crossing point to the south of the site to more effectively link the development to Asda and Donnington.

Improvements to the existing underpass off Dalebrook Drive have been made and the speed limit on Donnington Wood Way has been reduced from 50mph to 40mph.

Mandy Thorn, chair of the Marches LEP, said the improvements were part of a wider Growth Deal investment to drive economic growth across the Marches.

“We were delighted to support this work as part of a £27 million Growth Deal funding package we agreed last summer which we expect to create up to 1,749 jobs," she said.

"The Donnington Wood Way improvements will support the building of new homes and help create some of those new jobs and opportunities."

It comes as Annington, the company responsible for refurbishing former MOD properties in Tern Hill, near Market Drayton, is bringing to the market 12, two-bedroom homes in the village.

The refurbished properties are on offer from £139,950, nearly half of the average house price in Shropshire.