This promotional film made by the Telford Development Corporation paints the new city, then being built under the shadow of the Wrekin, as one for families and people wanting to escape conventional city living. Little mention is made of the jobs that will sustain a new prosperity but we are left with a heady mixture of community local centres, sports facilities and corporation homes free from long waiting lists then familiar to many families.
The Telford development was originally known as Dawley New Town and was designated in 1963. In 1968 the development was renamed Telford, after the Scottish born civil engineer, Thomas Telford who had been the Surveyor of Public Works for Shropshire in the eighteenth century. Presenter Tom Coyne was well known in the region as the face of the BBC's Midlands Today news programme. The population figures predicted in this film of a quarter of a million by 1991 have still yet to be reached. (Please note that this title contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0.)