Telford and Wrekin is a

borough A borough is an administrative division in various English language, English-speaking countries. In principle, the term ''borough'' designates a self-governing walled town, although in practice, official use of the term varies widely. History ...

and

unitary authority A unitary authority is a type of local government, local authority in New Zealand and the United Kingdom. Unitary authorities are responsible for all local government functions within its area or performing additional functions that elsewhere are ...

Shropshire Shropshire (; abbreviated SalopAlso used officially as the name of the county from 1974–1980. The demonym for inhabitants of the county "Salopian" derives from this name.) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the West M ...

, England. In 1974, a

non-metropolitan district Non-metropolitan districts, or colloquially "shire districts", are a type of Districts of England, local government district in England. As created, they are sub-divisions of non-metropolitan county, non-metropolitan counties (colloquially ''s ...

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 Ceremonial counties, formally known as ''counties for the purposes of the lieutenancies'', are areas of England to which lord-lieutenant, lord-lieutenants are appointed. A lord-lieutenant is the Monarchy of the United Kingdom, monarch's repres ...

and shares institutions such as the Fire and Rescue Service and

Community Health Community health refers to non-treatment based health services that are delivered outside Hospital, hospitals and Clinic, clinics. Community health is a subset of public health that is taught to and practiced by Clinician, clinicians as part of th ...

with the rest the county. The borough's major settlement is

Telford Telford () is a town in the Telford and Wrekin borough status in the United Kingdom, borough in Shropshire, England. The wider borough covers the town, its suburbs and surrounding towns and villages. The town is close to the county's eastern b ...

, which was designated a

new town New or NEW may refer to: Music * New, singer of K-pop group The Boyz (South Korean band), The Boyz * New (album), ''New'' (album), by Paul McCartney, 2013 ** New (Paul McCartney song), "New" (Paul McCartney song), 2013 * New (EP), ''New'' (EP), ...

in the 1960s and incorporated the towns of

Dawley Dawley ( ) is a former mining town and civil parish in the borough of Telford and Wrekin, Shropshire, England. It was originally proposed be the main centre of the 'Dawley New Town' plan in 1963, however it was decided in 1968 to name the new ...

, Madeley, Oakengates, and

Wellington Wellington is the capital city of New Zealand. It is located at the south-western tip of the North Island, between Cook Strait and the Remutaka Range. Wellington is the third-largest city in New Zealand (second largest in the North Island ...

. 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 Staffordshire (; postal abbreviation ''Staffs''.) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the West Midlands (region), West Midlands of England. It borders Cheshire to the north-west, Derbyshire and Leicestershire to the east, ...

, but is surrounded by the unitary district of

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 The Local Government Act 1972 (c. 70) is an act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom that reformed local government in England and Wales on 1 April 1974. It was one of the most significant acts of Parliament to be passed by the Heath Gov ...

covering the area of five former districts, plus a small part of a sixth: *

Urban District * Newport Urban District * Oakengates Urban District * Wellington Rural District *

Urban District *From Shifnal Rural District, the part of the parish of

Shifnal Shifnal () is a market town and civil parish in Shropshire, England, about east of Telford, 17 miles (27 km) east of Shrewsbury and 13 miles (20 km) west-northwest of Wolverhampton. It is near the M54 motorway and A5 (road), A5 road ...

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

, 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 In Ireland and the United Kingdom, housing associations are private, Non-profit organization, non-profit organisations that provide low-cost "Public housing in the United Kingdom, social housing" for people in need of a home. Any budget surpl ...

, the Wrekin Housing Trust, in 1999 which now owns the majority of social housing in Telford. Telford and Wrekin applied unsuccessfully for

city status City status is a symbolic and legal designation given by a monarch, national or subnational government. A municipality may receive city status because it already has the qualities of a city, or because it has some special purpose. Historically, ci ...

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

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 A police area is the area for which a territorial police force in the United Kingdom is responsible for policing. Every location in the United Kingdom has a designated territorial police force with statutory responsibility for providing poli ...

. 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 Coalbrookdale is a town in the Ironbridge Gorge and the Telford and Wrekin borough of Shropshire, England, containing a settlement of great significance in the history of iron ore smelting. It lies within the civil parish called The Gorge, Shro ...

, Madeley, Newport, Oakengates,

and

. The table below shows the civil parishes of the borough and their respective settlements:

Demography

Economy

This is a chart of trend of regional gross value added of Telford and Wrekin at current basic price
published
(pp. 240–253) by ''Office for National Statistics'' with figures in millions of British

pounds sterling Sterling (Currency symbol, symbol: Pound sign, £; ISO 4217, currency code: GBP) is the currency of the United Kingdom and nine of its associated territories. The pound is the main unit of account, unit of sterling, and the word ''Pound (cu ...

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 Corporal is a military rank in use by the armed forces of many countries. It is also a police rank in some police services. The rank is usually the lowest ranking non-commissioned officer. In some militaries, the rank of corporal nominally corr ...

Ricky Fergusson: 2012 * Mickey Bushell: 2014 * Alan Olver: 2015 * John Alfred David Gill: 2017 * Liam Davies: 2023

Military units

The Rifles The Rifles is an infantry regiment of the British Army. Formed in 2007, it consists of four Regular battalions and three Reserve battalions. Each Regular battalion was formerly an individual battalion of one of the two large regiments of the ...

: 29 May 2010 * D Squadron ( The Shropshire Yeomanry): 15 May 2025.

Organisations

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

References

External links

Telford & Wrekin Council
{{Authority control Local government districts of Shropshire Unitary authority districts of England NUTS 3 statistical regions of the United Kingdom Boroughs in England