When was telford founded

Reconsideration of the new town evoked scepticism among government officials about its economic prospects and Treasury arguments for its cancellation. Though much essential construction work had been put in hand in the early years, in Dawley was publicly criticized for slow progress by Crossman's successor Anthony Greenwood, apparently heedless of the government's prevarication over the improvement of road communications and of the uncertainty caused by his own ministry's brake on development.

In Greenwood determined to 'strengthen' the corporation by appointing a new and 'very energetic' chairman, fn. Woodside estate was accordingly built west of Madeley at an earlier stage and on a larger scale than had been planned, and the old centre of Madeley was replanned and altered very rapidly. The people of Dawley felt that the heart of the new town was being neglected and denied much-needed capital investment.

Repercussions were felt in the economic as well as the planning sphere. In the later s, while the government considered proposals for the new town's enlargement, developments were delayed not only in the old Dawley area but also in Wellington and Oakengates. That had not been foreseen. The planning of Dawley in the early s had assumed the continuance of virtually full male employment and considerable local rises in female employment and, especially in the new town centre, service employment.

It also assumed that manufacturing firms from expanding and mobile sectors of the regional economy would be attracted: added to the area's more basic heavy industry they would help to create an industrially balanced new town.

Nevertheless in spite of high unemployment in the s the east Shropshire Coalbrookdale coalfield had prospered in the s and s. Employment in the vehicle components industry, in the manufacture of engineering and electrical goods, and in metal and clothing manufactures had increased. That was due partly to the prosperity of the British car industry fn. The new jobs, amounting to 28 per cent of the new town's 4, industrial jobs in , were mainly women's; and it is noteworthy that the large pool of female labour available in the area, the result of the long preponderance of heavy industry, probably continued to help the new town to attract firms from the conurbation.

The new town depended on its northern neighbours, especially Wellington, for services and service employment and was economically united with them. The Dawley plan had aimed to make the new town economically independent, fn. In the s and s, however, the established industries of the Telford area began to fail. Its last two collieries closed in and At Priorslee Shropshire's last blast furnace was blown out in and its last rolling mill closed in The Lilleshall Co.

As economic growth slowed, ambivalent policies at the Ministry of Housing and Local Government contributed to the evaporation of Birmingham's interest in the new town. As has been seen, the city's initial enthusiasm for Dawley had coincided with what seemed to be the final defeat of the ruling Labour group's plans for peripheral expansion.

Even, however, as his ministry was insisting on Dawley's expansion as part of the Regional Study's strategy, fn. He authorized building at Water Orton Warws. The basis was thus laid for Birmingham's spectacular house-building programme of the later s, fn. Bowen, the Dawley deputy chairman, fn. The crisis in industry and employment notwithstanding, indeed as perhaps the only conceivable way of retrieving the situation in the long term, the government expanded the new town's area in December to include Wellington and Oakengates.

Between Telford's designation and the publication of its Basic Plan in fn. Nevertheless much the weightiest influence on the new town's economy was the inflexible regional policy of the Board of Trade from the Department of Trade and Industry in issuing industrial development certificates I.

Even there I. Between and , however, the conurbation had exported , jobs, , of them outside the region, and by the later s, contrary to the assumptions made during the planning of the new town, there was not enough mobile industry to fulfil plans for the new towns in addition to those for the assisted areas.

As the national recession worsened, moreover, Black Country towns were increasingly anxious, and in terms of zoned industrial land increasingly able, to keep their industries.

In the opinion of many the Department of Trade and Industry's policy made Telford the most disadvantaged new town. The new towns in Wales and the north of England were in assisted areas; on the other side of the conurbation Redditch's designation had had the Board of Trade's blessing from the outset while Milton Keynes designated , Peterborough , and Northampton , though not in the West Midlands region, were allowed to recruit industry from the whole of it.

With the sole exception of Telford, the new towns outside the assisted areas lay east or south of Birmingham and benefited from proximity to, or easy communications with, London. During the crisis of the late s an unprecedented application for intermediate assisted area status for Telford failed, fn. Anthony Greenwood, with the corporation's chairman Price and officials, met Gwyneth Dunwoody, parliamentary secretary to the Board: Telford was agreed to be 'on the sick list', and an unofficial 'concordat' allowed Telford to recruit industry throughout the West Midlands region; it lasted into the early s, just long enough to bring some large employers to Halesfield, the corporation's largest industrial estate, begun in Other large estates followed at Stafford Park from and Hortonwood from , and half a million square metres of factory space were provided between and , almost entirely on land made available by the corporation.

A few firms built factories on ground leased from the corporation, but generally the corporation built standard factories for letting. Within the limits of I.

The foreign firms required larger factories, and they began to be built at Stafford Park, each one having to be fought for in the Department of Trade and Industry's regional office in Birmingham.

Instruments Division opened a warehouse at Halesfield in ; fn. Thus from the later s, as it escaped I. Service employment, outside I. While they lasted the controls had confined the town's industrial recruitment to the Black Country and its typical metal trades, thus hindering realization of the changes to the area's industrial character proposed in by the ministry's planning consultants for Dawley: the establishment of modern industry alongside the old heavy manufactures.

The consultants had then expected, as one of the most important concomitants of the 'steepening rate of technical advance', the 'spread of middle-class standards throughout the population'.

Telford has drive, ambition and energy - it is a great place to live, work in or to visit. Telford 50 programme. Telford 50 partners.

The Black Country Garden City is due to deliver 45, new homes by Led by the Black Country Consortium, comprising the four Black Country councils, Local Enterprise Partnership and the Homes and Communities Agency this, again, is a public-private partnership on a scale which certainly does not lack for ambition.

During an extended report from Telford in this week's Sunday Politics Midlands, we'll be asking the town's Conservative MP Lucy Allan where she thinks it's done well and where it could still do better. And I hope you will join us too. Black Country to get 45, new homes.

Image source, Gavin Dickson. When is a 'new town' not a new town? Image source, Getty Images. Telford was named after Scottish road engineer and architect Thomas Telford. Is Telford working?

Telford's Southwater development opened in The most important landmark in the area is The Wrekin. There is also the Lilleshall Monument erected to the Duke of Sutherland, which has recently been restored. Telford is situated at the terminus of the M54 motorway , a spur of the M6 linking the town with Wolverhampton and the West Midlands , and on the A5 road between Shrewsbury and Cannock. Telford's rapidly growing population still has a relatively low car ownership.

Being a new town with a planned transport infrastructure, the town features relatively few traffic problems, in comparison to the urban areas of Birmingham or medieval streets of Shrewsbury.

The M54 reduces through-traffic on local roads, and the A Queensway acts as a north-south artery road. Ward map; Telford urban area highlighted in orange, within the Telford and Wrekin borough. Telford facts for kids Kids Encyclopedia Facts. Quick facts for kids. Telford and Wrekin.

West Midlands. Coalbrook- dale. Sutton Hill. Little Wenlock. Telford TC. The Rock. The Wrekin. St George's and Priorslee.