Mike Packwood

Two thirds of the way through a fascinating book - Concretopia by John Grindrod . I must be about the right age for this, growing up in the 60's when much of what he describes was taken place. (Coincidentally I've already written a little bit on here about how Northampton changed during this period - although what took place in Northampton wasn't nearly as drastic as some of the other new town projects, Cumbernauld for example). Reading his description of Cwmbran in South Wales promoted me to pop there ( I live 20 odd miles away) to have a look round and seek out something I remembered from a few years back.  On the way into Cwmbran there is a disused section of road, largely hidden by trees and now made redundant by a new dual carriageway nearby. Now, it doesn't come from, or go to anywhere. Its just a 100 yard section of tarmac. Back then it used to be the main road into the new town and until recently still had its ' Welcome to the new town of Cwmbran'