Euro chiefs have handed Telford £4 million to spend on a catalogue of improvement projects in and around the Ironbridge Gorge World Heritage site, it was revealed today.
The bumper cash handout will go to pay for a total of 24 developments, including the expansion of the Railfreight terminal and the creation of a showpiece Enterprise Headquarters at the heart of the famous site.
Members of Telford & Wrekin Council’s ruling cabinet will meet next Monday to formally approve the spending of the windfall which is the latest to come from the European Region Development Fund.
Meeting an end-of-the-year deadline to spend the grant was a key condition of securing the money and Councillor Eric Carter, the council’s cabinet member for Regeneration, said: “I am extremely pleased that we have been successful in securing this additional, significant amount of money.”
He added: “We are going to work and fund existing projects and the ERDF grant will enable the council to deliver additional works across the borough that we would not otherwise be able to accomplish.
“Because we are obliged to spend this money by the end of the year, this places an even greater emphasis on effective partnership working to meet these exacting deadlines.”
The largest project to benefit will be a £1.2 million scheme to extend the Railfreight terminal and boost its capacity so that it is able to handle four trains per day, instead of just two or three.
5 Comments
Since when has Donnington (the site of the railfreight terminal) been in the Ironbridge Gorge World Heritage Site?
“Enterprise Centre” - this wouldn’t be a flashy new headquarters for the lamentable “Transforming Telford” would it?
Meanwhile areas of the Heritage Site, particularly those in Madeley, continue to decay as the result of years of neglect.
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Once again it looks like money will be wasted on projects that should be funded by the council themselves and I bet Ironbridge won’t see much of it.
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great news, sour grapes brian(2), of course this is a good thing for the people of ironbridge, shropshire, and the World
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Yep, Jd, There’s one born every minute!!!!
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The 4 million should be spent on knocking down
Sutton Hill. Woodside, Brookside, Hollinswood, parts of Madeley, Dawley and starting over again without the blinkered 70’s planning view of pack everyone into low cost unattractive housing
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