'A great place to live': MP Lucy Allan going to town in defence of Telford

Lucy Allan has jumped to the town's defence, claiming it is a "great place to live" and pointing to attractions such as Telford Town Park and Southwater.

International think-tank, the Legatum Institute, ranked Telford & Wrekin 318th out of 389 local authorities across the UK when it came to overall wellbeing.

It ranked the borough among the 10 worst places to live in the UK when it came to "natural environment", well behind the rest of Shropshire which came 139th and Powys, ranked 161st.

But Ms Allan, writing on her Facebook page, said: "Telford is a great place to live.

"There's space, clean air, fantastic award-winning park, easy to get around, volunteers who give so much, value for money housing, thriving businesses, friendly people, great restaurants, fab leisure facilities, safe and of course friendly people."

However, she said the figures on health, highlighted in the study, should not be ignored.

For the health category, Telford & Wrekin fared poorly, being ranked 324th, compared to the rest of the county which came in at 81st, and Powys was above average in 151st place.

It comes as health bosses were recently expected to announce the closure of Telford's A&E department and the transfer of its women and children's centre to Royal Shrewsbury Hospital.

A decision on the shake-up of services in Shropshire has been delayed.

Ms Allan said the figures on health made it clear that this should not happen.

She said: "Based on need, there is no argument where the new emergency department should be and there are no grounds for closing our women and children's unit."

For business, Telford outstripped Shropshire and Powys by finding itself in the top 30 per cent of economies, according to the study.

The town came a respectable 111th in the UK for business environment, but Shropshire was in 359th place with Powys in the bottom eight.

While the rest of Shropshire did better than Telford for overall wellbeing, it still came slightly below average in 198th place. Neighbouring Powys did better, coming in at 172.

The organisation, which says its aim is to promote prosperity, ranked each local authority for seven different quality of life indicators.