# Telford and Wrekin

Telford and Wrekin is a borough and unitary authority in Shropshire, England. In 1974, a non-metropolitan district of Shropshire was created called the Wrekin, named after a prominent hill to the west of Telford. In 1998, the district became a unitary authority and was renamed "Telford and Wrekin", which remains part of the Shropshire ceremonial county and shares institutions such as the Fire and Rescue Service and Community Health with the rest the county.
The borough's major settlement is Telford, which was designated a new town in the 1960s and incorporated the towns of Dawley, Madeley, Oakengates, and Wellington. After the Telford conurbation, which includes the aforementioned towns, the next-largest settlement is Newport which is located in the northeast of the borough and is not part of the original new town of Telford. The borough borders Staffordshire, but is surrounded by the unitary district of Shropshire which covers the area previously administered by Shropshire County Council.

## History

The district was created on 1 April 1974 under the Local Government Act 1972 covering the area of five former districts, plus a small part of a sixth:
* Dawley Urban District
* Newport Urban District
* Oakengates Urban District
* Wellington Rural District
* Wellington Urban District
* From Shifnal Rural District, the part of the parish of Shifnal within the designated area of Telford New Town (which was added to the parish of Lilleshall)
The district was initially called "Wrekin", but during 1974 the council changed the name to "The Wrekin". A significant part of the new district was within the designated area of the Telford New Town, which had been initially designated in 1963 as Dawley New Town before being enlarged and renamed to Telford in 1968. The Telford Development Corporation existed alongside the elected councils until it was wound up in 1991, running various functions such as town planning which would otherwise have been council responsibilities.
On 1 April 1998, as a result of the Local Government Commission for England's review, the district became a unitary authority, independent from Shropshire County Council. On the same day the district's name was changed from "The Wrekin" to "Telford and Wrekin".
All of the council houses previously owned by Wrekin District Council and the subsequent Telford and Wrekin Council were transferred to a newly created housing association, the Wrekin Housing Trust, in 1999 which now owns the majority of social housing in Telford.
Telford and Wrekin applied unsuccessfully for city status in 2000. The district was granted borough status in 2002.

### Wards

For the borough council itself there is a system of thirty wards to elect councillors.
* List of wards at Telford and Wrekin website
* Current ward councillors at Telford and Wrekin website
* 1 – Admaston and Bratton
* 2 – Apley Castle
* 3 – Arleston
* 4 – Brookside
* 5 – Church Aston and Lilleshall
* 6 – College
* 7 – Dawley and Aqueduct
* 8 – Donnington
* 9 – Dothill
* 10 – Edgmond and Ercall Magna
* 11 – Ercall
* 12 – Hadley and Leegomery
* 13 – Haygate
* 14 – Horsehay and Lightmoor
* 15 – Ironbridge Gorge
* 16 – Ketley and Overdale
* 17 – Madeley and Sutton Hill
* 18 – Malinslee and Dawley Bank
* 19 – Muxton
* 20 – Newport North and West
* 21 – Newport South and East
* 22 – Oakengates and Ketley Bank
* 23 – Park
* 24 – Priorslee
* 25 – Shawbirch
* 26 – St Georges
* 27 – The Nedge
* 28 – Woodside
* 29 – Wrockwardine
* 30 – Wrockwardine Wood and Trench

### Election history

Borough elections are held every 4 years.
* Previous Election Results

## Governance

Telford and Wrekin operates a cabinet-style council. It has 54 elected councillors who appoint the seven cabinet members, including the leader, each year. The cabinet members make decisions as a whole and meet every two weeks.
Telford and Wrekin is currently a Labour controlled council.

## Policing

Telford and Wrekin is part of the West Mercia Police police area. The force is based in Worcester (outside Shropshire) and the borough's area is a Territorial Policing Unit in the force's organisation.

## Towns, villages and other settlements

The main towns of the borough are: Coalbrookdale, Dawley, Madeley, Newport, Oakengates, Telford and Wellington. The table below shows the civil parishes of the borough and their respective settlements:
| # | Civil parish | Settlements in the parish | Population |
| 1 | Chetwynd | Chetwynd, Howle, Pickstock and Sambrook | 638 |
| 2 | Chetwynd Aston and Woodcote | Chetwynd Aston, Pave Lane and Woodcote | 674 |
| 3 | Church Aston | Cheswell, Church Aston and Longford | 1,260 |
| 4 | Dawley Hamlets | Aqueduct, Doseley, Horsehay, Lightmoor, Little Dawley and Spring Village | 8,008 |
| 5 | Donnington and Muxton | Donnington, Donnington Wood and Muxton | 13,950 |
| 6 | Edgmond | Adeney and Edgmond | 2,033 |
| 7 | Ercall Magna | Cold Hatton, Ellerdine, High Ercall, Osbaston, Roden and Rowton | 1,810 |
| 8 | Eyton upon the Weald Moors | Eyton Upon The Weald Moors | N/A |
| 9 | Great Dawley | Dawley and Malinslee | 12.134 |
| 10 | Hadley and Leegomery | Apley Castle, Hadley and Leegomery | 16,188 |
| 11 | Hollinswood and Randlay | Hollinswood and Randlay | 6,132 |
| 12 | Ketley | Beveley, Ketley and Red Lake | 5,270 |
| 13 | Kynnersley | Kynnersley | 300 |
| 14 | Lawley and Overdale | Dawley Bank, Lawley, Newdale, Old Park and The Rock | 12,173 |
| 15 | Lilleshall | Lilleshall and Pave Lane | 1,370 |
| 16 | Madeley | Hill Top, Madeley, Sutton Hill and Woodside | 18,774 |
| 17 | Newport | Chetwynd End, Lower Bar and Newport | 12,922 |
| 18 | Oakengates | Beveley, Hollyhurst, Ketley Bank, Oakengates and Wombridge | 9,012 |
| 19 | Preston upon the Weald Moors | Kinley and Preston upon the Weald Moors | 204 |
| 20 | Rodington | Isombridge, Longdon-on-Tern and Rodington | 883 |
| 21 | St George's and Priorslee | Central Park, Priorslee, Redhill, Snedshill and St George's | 12,372 |
| 22 | Stirchley and Brookside | Brookside and Stirchley | 10,446 |
| 23 | The Gorge | Coalbrookdale, Coalport, Ironbridge, Jackfield, Preens Eddy and The Werps | 3,803 |
| 24 | Tibberton and Cherrington | Cherrington and Tibberton | 940 |
| 25 | Waters Upton | Crudgington, Great Bolas and Waters Upton | 949 |
| 26 | Wellington | Dothill, Shawbirch and Wellington | 22,881 |
| 27 | Wrockwardine | Admaston, Allscott, Aston, Bratton, Leaton, Nash, Walcot and Wrockwardine | 4,182 |
| 28 | Wrockwardine Wood and Trench | Trench and Wrockwardine Wood | 5,642 |

## Demography

| Ethnic Group | 2001 census | 2001 census | 2011 census | 2011 census | 2021 census | 2021 census |
| Ethnic Group | Number | % | Number | % | Number | % |
| White: Total | 150,014 | 94.8% | 154,415 | 92.7% | 163,638 | 88.2% |
| White: British | 147,314 | 93% | 149,096 | | 153,936 | 83% |
| White: Irish | 1,061 | | 729 | | 723 | |
| White: Gypsy or Irish Traveller | – | – | 166 | | 203 | |
| White: Roma | – | – | – | – | 187 | |
| White: Other | 1,639 | | 4,424 | | 8,589 | |
| Asian or Asian British: Total | 5,128 | 3.2% | 6,991 | | 10,067 | 5.4% |
| Asian or Asian British: Indian | 2,623 | | 3,076 | | 4,559 | |
| Asian or Asian British: Pakistani | 1,598 | 1% | 2,243 | | 3,368 | |
| Asian or Asian British: Bangladeshi | 98 | | 162 | | 207 | |
| Asian or Asian British: Chinese | 542 | | 647 | | 818 | |
| Asian or Asian British: Other Asian | 267 | | 863 | | 1,115 | |
| Black or Black British: Total | 928 | 0.6% | 1,779 | | 5,351 | 2.9% |
| Black or Black British: African | 263 | | 1,023 | | 3,962 | |
| Black or Black British: Caribbean | 567 | | 607 | | 748 | |
| Black or Black British: Other Black | 98 | | 149 | | 641 | |
| Mixed: Total | 1,728 | 1.1% | 2,983 | | 4,844 | |
| Mixed: White and Black Caribbean | 935 | | 1,423 | | 2,083 | |
| Mixed: White and Black African | 108 | | 278 | | 676 | |
| Mixed: White and Asian | 452 | 0.3% | 799 | | 1,315 | |
| Mixed: Other Mixed | 233 | | 483 | | 770 | |
| Other: Total | 527 | | 473 | | 1,643 | |
| Other: Arab | – | – | 86 | – | 242 | |
| Other: Any other ethnic group | 527 | | 387 | | 1,401 | |
| Non-White: Total | 8,311 | 5.2% | 12,226 | 7.3% | 21,905 | 11.8% |
| Total | 158,325 | 100% | 166,641 | 100% | 185,543 | 100% |

## Economy

This is a chart of trend of regional gross value added of Telford and Wrekin at current basic prices published (pp. 240–253) by Office for National Statistics with figures in millions of British pounds sterling.
| Year | Regional gross value added | Agriculture | Industry | Services |
| 1995 | 1,763 | 28 | 865 | 870 |
| 2000 | 2,072 | 20 | 773 | 1,279 |
| 2003 | 2,370 | 21 | 850 | 1,500 |
* ↑ Components may not sum to totals due to rounding
* ↑ includes hunting and forestry
* ↑ includes energy and construction
* ↑ includes financial intermediation services indirectly measured

## Freedom of the Borough

The following people, military units and organisations have received the Freedom of the Borough of Telford and Wrekin.

### People

* Iris Butler: 2002
* Richie Woodhall: 2002
* Lee Carter: 2005
* Elizabeth Holt: 2008
* Peter Gibbons: 2009
* George Whyle: 2011
* Corporal Ricky Fergusson: 2012
* Mickey Bushell: 2014
* Alan Olver: 2015
* John Alfred David Gill: 2017
* Liam Davies: 2023

### Military units

* The Rifles: 29 May 2010

### Organisations

* Telford Crisis Support: 11 June 2022
* The Wrekin Housing Group