Thousands visit Telford's Southwater One in first week

Southwater One welcomed more than 1,000 people per day through its doors this week.

Staff in the council’s newly relocated First Point customer contact facility assisted more than 300 people to access an extensive range of services and benefits.

The new Southwater Library – which is open seven days a week – has also been a major hit with more than 6,400 people visiting in the first week, with 100 people per day using the ground breaking interactive digital archive table.

Yesterday was the first day of the school summer holidays and it saw more than 2,000 people using the library’s state of the art facilities with many enjoying the British Folktales with the Exotic Zoo drop in activity.

Southwater One opened its doors for the first time last Monday and is the first major part of the £250m Southwater development to be open to the public.

Work is continuing apace on the rest of the development with both the 11 screen IMAX Cineworld and the 85 bedroom Premier Inn due to open during August, followed by a string of market-leading restaurants during September.

The Southwater development has completely transformed Telford town centre’s skyline and it will soon be followed by the planned £200m regeneration of Telford Shopping Centre.

Southwater is a public/private partnership that has placed Telford as a major regional conference and leisure destination.

Telford & Wrekin Council leader Councillor Kuldip Sahota said:

“The Southwater development looks fantastic and I am delighted that it has been so embraced by our residents.

“It will continue to go from strength to strength as more elements of it open to the public and that signals some very exciting times ahead for the borough.”

The Southwater Library is staffed between 10am and 6pm Monday to Friday, 10am to 4pm on Saturday and 10am to 4pm on Sunday until September 30. A self service facility is available at other times when the Southwater One building is open.