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Thomas Telford Anniversary

I congratulate the hon. Member for Dumfriesshire, Clydesdale and Tweeddale (David Mundell) on an outstanding speech celebrating Thomas Telford. He has done the House and me a service by securing the Adjournment debate this evening. It would be remiss of me, being the Member of Parliament whose constituency is named after Thomas Telford, if I did not make a few remarks tonight. I have always said that I have lived in the town of Telford all my life. That is not quite true. I was born 40 years ago, and Telford new town was not designated until 29 September 1968, but I can say that I have lived in parts of what is now Telford for all my life. We as a community in the town celebrate this year the birth of Thomas Telford, the man who gave his name to our town. Before that, the area was called Dawley new town and it was expanded significantly in the late 1960s when there was a need for additional housing for people moving out of the west midlands conurbation. The town was built on the east Shropshire coalfield. It is a combination of older communities like Dawley, Madeley, Wellington and Oakengates that had an engineering and mining history. Telford would have been proud that an area with that mining and industrial heritage and history was named after him. There is sometimes confusion in Telford because people think that Thomas Telford designed the Iron Bridge, which of course is not true. The number of people who have said to me that Thomas Telford designed the Iron Bridge is incredible. The Iron Bridge was designed by Abraham Darby III, but it would have been difficult to call the town Darby when there already was a town called Derby, so it was a wise decision to call the town Telford when it was expanded in 1968. We are proud to share the connection with the hon. Gentleman’s constituency. As I am holidaying in Scotland over the summer, I hope that I may be able to pay a visit to his constituency and his community to visit the site where Thomas Telford was born. I am looking forward to that very much. I want to pay tribute also to Telford and Wrekin council for the programme of events that it has put together, as the hon. Gentleman mentioned, over this year. There are some superb events involving schools and focusing on education. We can be proud of the connection that we are making with education. The hon. Gentleman mentioned the Institution of Civil Engineers, which seems to be doing a great job. Its website contains a whole section on Thomas Telford, showing a timeline and focusing on his achievements. They are significant, and we would not have the nation that we have today without Telford. He was a great Briton. The point made earlier by the hon. Gentleman about the importance of the union is very much solidified by the work that Telford did during his lifetime, and the way in which that has lasted and provided a service to the public through the generations in terms of his engineering skills. Telford and Wrekin council had a garden celebrating Telford at the Chelsea flower show, which was fantastic. I am not a great gardener, but my wife is, and we paid a visit to the garden, which I am pleased to report won a silver medal. The council hopes to do a further garden at Chelsea next year, because that will be the 40th anniversary of the designation of Telford new town in September 1968. Therefore, I should like the Government to think about whether they can roll the celebration of Telford’s 250th anniversary through to a celebration of 40 years of what perhaps records him most in this country, and that is the town of Telford. I again thank the hon. Gentleman for securing this important debate and I look forward to my words joining his in his local library.