Local Plan

Telford & Wrekin Council is committed to supporting local businesses as well as attracting new business investments into the borough. The Telford and Wrekin Local Plan has helped attract new investment and created jobs including Magna Cosma and the delivery of new business parks including Newport Innovation Park, T54 and Hortonwood West.

Over recent years local, national and global challenges have disrupted and created challenges for businesses. The draft plan proposes new land for inward investment in the borough which will help create jobs in, for example, knowledge based and green industries, and support the borough in the long term.

The Local Plan also support our shopping centres to remain important for their communities, and to make sure that Telford Town Centre remains a great place for shopping and leisure. The draft Local Plan gives priority to shops in the heart of our borough town centres and encourages housing in places that will enhance our town centre’s making them attractive to both residents and out of area visitors. The council has a dedicated business support and inward investment team who have been supporting businesses for a long time, and will continue to do so through initiatives like the Telford Land Deal and grant programs like Pride in our High Street. 

What is the role of the Local Plan?

The evidence base for the draft Local Plan suggests that within the borough of Telford and Wrekin we need to set aside at least 167 hectares of land for employment opportunities up to 2040. The council has already granted planning permission to or allocated some locations for this, you can view new proposed sites for employment development.

The Local Plan will support the boroughs economy and centres in the long term through: 

Policies that support the delivery employment development in the Strategic Employment Areas (including Halesfield, Stafford Park, Hortonwood and Newport), the protection of existing sites for employment uses and the diversification of the rural economy. 

Directing new general waste management facilities into larger industrial areas to support the circular economy including re-use, repair, recycling, composting and transfer of energy related to industrial and commercial activity. 

Policies that will help protect the role of town, district and local centres as places for shopping, commercial activity and leisure facilities as well as supporting regeneration proposals. 

Recognising the changing role of Telford Town Centre to support a greater mix of development types including appropriate residential development, such as the Station Quarter development site.

Supporting proposals for community facilities and commercial activity that supports rural communities as well as protecting against the loss of existing rural facilities.