Transforming Telford, the limited company set up to mastermind the development of the town, is claiming success in boosting the local economy - despite recent announcements of hundreds of job losses across the borough.
Unemployment rates in Telford are the lowest for three years while pay rates - for many years some of the worst in the West Midlands - are finally starting to rise.
The figures are revealed in the first quarterly report of Transforming Telford, launch- ed last September by Telford & Wrekin Council, English Partnerships and Advantage West Midlands.
Its aim is to bring together public and private sectors, delivering new jobs and homes for Telford in the 21st century. Telford & Wrekin Council has the task of monitoring Transforming Telford’s performance - and cabinet members will discuss this on Monday.
In a report to the meeting, Meredith Evans, the council’s corporate director of environment and regeneration, says Transforming Telford has demonstrated a “reasonable performance” from September to December 2007, with annual targets achieved or likely to be achieved.
“This can be set within a wider trend of population and job increases within the local economy,” he says.
“Figures for unemployment at December 2007 stand at two per cent compared with 2.9 per cent in the West Midlands and 2.1 per cent nationally - the lowest unemployment rates in the borough since April 2005.”
Mr Evans says 15 companies in Telford announced redundancies between April and December last year, with 233 people losing their jobs. He does not, however, refer to last week’s announcement of 300 job losses by IT giant Capgemini.
He says: “In the future, the steady growth in the workforce that has taken place over the past decade will continue in line with Telford’s designation as a regional growth hub.
“Transforming Telford’s forecasts suggest people in the workforce will increase from 82,000 to more than 100,000 people in the next 20 years.”
He says Telford pay packets are “for the first time in many years” exceeding the regional average while Telford people contribute more to the national economy than those in the Black Country and West Midlands.
By Peter Johnson
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