Watching New Town Grow

Press, Volume CVII, Issue 31500, 14 October 1967, Page 5

Watching New Town Grow

(By

GILLIAN M. PITT

T in thr

“Christian Science Monitor”)

I have lived in a new town (Crawley, England) for nearly nine years. I have watched and shared in its growth from the time when it was little more than a collection of new houses, factories, and future promise to a town with I a feeling of stability, vitality, and a sense of identity as it is today. The new towns in Britain have been a social experiment. They are an attempt to create balanced and selfcontained communities by relating residential and industrial development and fostering a community spirit among the townspeople. Population Grows The population of Crawley grew from 9000 people living in three old established communities in 1947 to a town of more than 51,000 by 1960. Today there are more than 63,000 inhabitants. This has given an unprecedented opportunity to British planners to put town planning theory into practice. The plan of Crawley strongly reflects the concept of neighbourhood planning which was much discussed in the 1930 s and 19405. There are 10 neighbourhoods arranged in two concentric rings around the town centre. From these residential neighbourhoods no worker has to travel more than four miles to the industrial area on the north side of the town. Each neighbourhood, with 4000 to 8000 people, is designed to be a self-sufficient community with its own primary schools, shops, church, and social services. There is also a community centre as a focal point for social life. The people who come to live in the new town have usually come because their work brings them there. They work for one of the firms that have moved from the London area to one of the bright new factories on the northern side of the town set among trees and open space. Better Living The move frequently offers them better living conditions as well as more pleasant surroundings at work. It also makes a challenge that calls for something of a' pioneering spirit in making a home in a new, raw, and unformed environment and forming a social pattern where none has existed before. Most of the newcomers rose to the challenge with interest

and enthusiasm and rapidly identified themselves with the growing community. For others the task seemed more difficult and the problems of adjustment almost overwhelming. First Home* Many of the young families who moved to Crawley had been living in furnished flats or with relatives and were setting up home for the first time. They had to buy new furniture and equipment, often going into debt to acquire them. Material possessions became particularly important, for, until neighbours get to know one another “as people," their possessions are among the main criteria by which they can judge or be judged. The change is usually felt much more sharply by the wives than by their husbands. In the beginning everything is new and raw. Roads and pavements may be unmade and muddy, the shops may be unfinished and local services sketchy. But these short-term difficulties are overcome as the neighbourhod begins to settle down. The roads are made up, the new shops open, the community centre is established, neighbours’ faces grow familiar, and friendships are formed. Use Of Leisure A survey of the use of leisure in the new town has indicated that the demand for cultural and recreational facilities will grow as the young families grow up and as the young people, whoso interest in music and the arts has been fostered by the schools, leave school and look to the town for recreation. Have the new towns been a success? There is no clearcut answer. There have been difficulties and problems and some have persisted because, inevitably, a town planned in the 1940 s is not ideal for social life in the mid-19605. Perfection has- been the aim and anything short of it raises protest. It would seem true that for most people the advantages of living in a new town far outweigh any disadvantages. Jute Production (N.Z.P. A.-Reuter—Copyright) RAWALPINDI (Pakistan). More land and new methods are to be used to achieve a target of 7,500.000 bales of jute for the year 1967-68 in Pakistan. Production of jute for the previous season totalled 6,500,000 bales. The new target will be achieved by an extensive use of fertilisers and better seeds, as well as using two million acres of land for jute production.