Telford & Wrekin Commissioners to look at key challenges and opportunities
Members of Telford and Wrekin’s pioneering Co-operative Commission will gather today to look at ways that they think three key issues in the borough can be tackled.
The independent commission, made up of representatives from business, community and public organisations, will be discussing the Council’s State of the Borough report published last week.
The Commission formed in late 2011 has already made a series of recommendations on issues that it wanted the Council to tackle and last met in the autumn.
At today's event at Meeting Point House in Telford Town Centre, the Commissioners will be asked to look at steps and measures to help tackle the following issues:
- What can be done to improve prospects through education and skills training? The State of the Borough report for example highlighted that youth unemployment was a major issue with 26% of people aged 16-24 in the borough unemployed, compared with 21% nationally
- What can be done to protect and create jobs in the borough? As well as unemployment among young people, the Council is striving to attract more businesses to the borough, improving housing and ensuring that the borough continues to grow. The report says that the borough’s population is forecast to grow by 15% by 2026.
- How can the gap between we between the borough’s most and least deprived neighbourhoods be narrowed? The report highlights that there are neighbourhoods which are amongst the 10% most deprived in England. This means that people in these areas are more likely to have poor health, lower educational attainment and greater challenges finding work.
Among the opportunities for the borough are rising educational attainment and investment in schools, the £250m Southwater development and linked leisure facilities, the infrastructure for economic growth and the attraction of the Ironbridge Gorge being named as the most recommended World Heritage Site in the UK *.
Jan Ellis, principal of TCAT and a Co-operative Commissioner, who will lead the Commission’s discussions around skills and training, said: “Youth unemployment and skills are one of the major issues for the borough that we all have a stake in.
“We have to consider how we can come together to tackle these and make the most of the opportunities we share and I look forward to hearing the commissioners views.”
Councillor Shaun Davies, cabinet member for Neighbourhood Services and Co-operative Council, said: “The Council is clear what our priorities are and where we should focus our efforts on to help tackle these key issues.
“However, the Council cannot solve these alone and we don’t have a monopoly on ideas.
“I look forward to more positive suggestions of ways forward from the independent commissioners that can help addresses these challenges and harness the great opportunities we have.”
