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 As of 2025, the borough is divided into 32 wards for the election of 54 councillors.

Election history Borough elections are held every 4 years.

Telford and Wrekin Council elections

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 Group2001 census2011 census2021 censusNumber%Number%Number%White: Total150,01494.8%154,41592.7%163,63888.2%White: British147,31493%149,096153,93683%White: Irish1,061729723White: Gypsy or Irish Traveller––166203White: Roma––––187White: Other1,6394,4248,589Asian or Asian British: Total5,1283.2%6,99110,0675.4%Asian or Asian British: Indian2,6233,0764,559Asian or Asian British: Pakistani1,5981%2,2433,368Asian or Asian British: Bangladeshi98162207Asian or Asian British: Chinese542647818Asian or Asian British: Other Asian2678631,115Black or Black British: Total9280.6%1,7795,3512.9%Black or Black British: African2631,0233,962Black or Black British: Caribbean567607748Black or Black British: Other Black98149641Mixed: Total1,7281.1%2,9834,844Mixed: White and Black Caribbean9351,4232,083Mixed: White and Black African108278676Mixed: White and Asian4520.3%7991,315Mixed: Other Mixed233483770Other: Total5274731,643Other: Arab––86–242Other: Any other ethnic group5273871,401Non-White: Total8,3115.2%12,2267.3%21,90511.8%Total158,325100%166,641100%185,543100%

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 addedComponents may not sum to totals due to rounding Agricultureincludes hunting and forestry Industryincludes energy and construction Servicesincludes financial intermediation services indirectly measured 1995 1,763 28 865 870 2000 2,072 20 773 1,279 2003 2,370 21 850 1,500

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

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

See also Telford and Wrekin local elections The Wrekin – prominent hill to the west of Telford 1990s UK local government reform Shropshire Council – the other unitary authority in Shropshire Healthcare in Shropshire

References

External links Telford & Wrekin Council