Newsroom Archive

The £2m Telford 50 Legacy Fund will support a mix of physical schemes as well as other projects that help tackle some important social issues in the borough and reduce demand on council services.

The Council has announced today the first two schemes for Telford 50 Legacy Fund.

It is making £990,000 available to refurbish, purchase or adapt community buildings and facilities. This is one of the areas that people said they most wanted any legacy funding to support.

Community groups and organisations will be asked to come forward with proposals for the fund to support.

With match funding, the total value of this part of the Telford 50 Legacy Fund would total at least £1.225 million.

The first scheme is worth £750,000 with £150,000 available for each of the borough’s five main towns and population centres – Dawley, Madeley, Newport, Oakengates and Wellington.

Council leader Shaun Davies is asking each town council to come forward with proposals of facilities that could benefit most from the grant.

Any projects will need to meet a number of criteria, find at least 25% match funding and, if approved by Telford & Wrekin and the town councils, it is expected that work on these will be completed by March 2019.

Buildings and facilities that can benefit from this funding must have open community access and support the other themes of the Telford 50 Legacy Fund.

The second scheme is a £240,000 “small grant” fund that will be available for community buildings’ regeneration anywhere in the borough. This will award grants of up to £20,000.

Details of how to apply for this small grants funding will be published in March at www.telford50.co.uk  and it is hoped that successful schemes can be announced in the spring. Details about other schemes that will receive Telford 50 Legacy funding will be published soon.

Council leader Shaun Davies said: “One of the most important parts of the Telford 50 celebrations is the lasting benefit we want it have across the borough.

“This Telford 50 Legacy Fund will do just that and we’ll be bringing forward a range of other schemes very soon that will both improve the borough for residents and visitors, while also helping to reduce demand on council services and address some key social issues.

“The Fund will support things that people told us were most important for them and investing in communities by refurbishing or helping people to take on new community buildings was mentioned by many people.

“I look forward to the five town councils identifying buildings in their towns and how this fund can make a real difference and impact in these communities.

“There will also be many more organisations across the borough who will want to apply for grants of up to £20,000 and I look forward to releasing details of how people can apply for this very soon.”

Almost 1,400 people took part in a consultation in summer 2017 to find out what people wanted to see supported as a legacy of Telford 50. Some of the most popular themes included heritage and tourism, arts and culture and recreation. People were also keen to see the funding allocated to support community events and projects.