WORK TO pave the way for a £250 million scheme to transform the heart of Telford creating shops, bars, cafes and hundreds of homes will get under way in December.

Bulldozers will move on to site to begin groundworks for the redevelopment of the Southwater area of the town centre in weeks.

One of the first tasks will be to demolish a visitors’ centre and drain Southwater lake.

Included in the revamp of the site between the Telford International Centre (TIC) and Telford Shopping Centre will be 30,000sq ft of office space, a new learning and media centre to bolster the library, two new hotels and bars, restaurants, cafes, shops and hundreds of homes.

Planners at Telford & Wrekin Council met last night and gave the go-ahead for the clearance of the site to start.

But before any bricks can be laid, the Southwater lake must be drained and Spout Farm House visitors centre, along with an electricity sub-station, will have to be flattened.

Council leader Andrew Eade said he had waited 28 years to see plans such as these passed.

“This is a very exciting time because it is the first major part of this development and work will start in December,” said Councillor Eade.

“This huge development is right in the middle of the borough and it is the start of providing hundreds of new jobs.

“Southwater will help to ensure the future prosperity of Telford and Wrekin.

“I have seen plans like this come and go over 28 years and we have done all this in just two.”

Councillors have already approved the building of a replacement visitor centre in Hinkshay Road, Malinslee, in August.

Included in the revamp of the site will be the building of 330 apartments and town houses.

In a separate application earlier this month, plans were submitted to build the new Telford & Wrekin Council offices at the Southwater site.

Council chiefs have been keen to stress the new offices would be built at no cost to the taxpayer, being wholly funded from the sale of the authority’s current civic office site in the town centre to Asda.

By Jason Lavan