MULTI-MILLION pound plans have been unveiled to build homes and shops on Telford’s Woodside estate.

The housing plans will centre around Wildwood, where regeneration bosses hope to do away with the controversial Radburn layout and its associated problems with uninviting alleyways and anti-social behaviour.

As part of the plans 40 three-storey, four-bed properties in Wildwood snapped up by the council in the last few months will be demolished to make way for the new homes.

New shops will also be built in the centre of the estate, with the two developments following on from planned environmental improvements to the estate due to start this year.

The ambitious scheme is being developed by Telford & Wrekin Council, in partnership with Wrekin Housing Trust and the Homes and Communities Agency.

Priority

Councillor Eric Carter, cabinet member for housing, regeneration and prosperity at the council, said: “The continued redevelopment of Woodside is a key priority for the Housing & Regeneration Partnership Board and this is very good news for the community there.

“This will enable council officers, the Wrekin Housing Trust and the Homes and Communities Agency to work together to progress the next stage of the estate’s regeneration with all speed.”

Councillor Carter added: “The council has been acquiring properties in Wildwood for several months and will be demolishing 40 of them to enable the new housing development to take place.”

The council and the Homes and Communities Agency are working together, through the Housing and Regeneration Partnership Board, to invest in major housing projects across the borough.

Councillor Carter said Woodside had been identified by the board as one of its top priorities for housing-led regeneration in Telford and Wrekin.

He said the council would now negotiate detailed legal agreements with the Wrekin Housing Trust, setting out how and when the development will take place.

By Wayne Beese