Concretopia & Cwmbran

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' sign proudly standing on the verge. Its gone now but fortunately you can see above someone quicker off the mark got a picture before it went.

Two things occurred to me. Firstly however well planned these places were, they were only well planned at that precise time in history. They didn't leave any scope for expansion in the same style. Once the developers finished and moved on there wasn't, certainly in Cwmbran's case any like minded plan that would see the place grow in keeping with its original idea and style. Hence the development of new shed retail units around the centre, which jar terribly with the original design and only serve to make the whole place look a bit of a jumble. This is largely accepted in older towns because they've grown organically over hundreds of years, but with a brand new town where the majority if it was built in a few short years, anything built afterwards should have at least have some sympathy with, or leanings towards the original.

Secondly - whatever you think of 60's and 70's housing with their flat or gently tilting single pitch roofs and slit windows they are certainly striking and to my eyes look great if left alone as the architect designed them.

I don't think any of use are qualified to alter the appearance of our house. If you think Cwmbran looks a little rough around the edges this is mostly because of the appalling home 'improvements' the owners have carried out. Awful porches, fences, concrete Lions, cladding - the list is endless and the result is that many streets that had perfect symmetry and purity in the first place have been largely spoiled.

We often deride the very concreteness of these new towns - but at the time, considering where many of the new residents had come from they must have seemed wonderful and in my view, despite many of their obvious failings they would continue to look wonderful had they been allowed to grow as their designers intended. Largely its the stamp of the 80's and 90's that have spoiled them. Its a shame we didn't have the courage to leave them well alone and make sympathetic improvements rather than trying to blot them out.