As developers proceed with the trashing of the green belt around every town and village in Northumberland I dug this up from my late fathers records when he worked for JTBell (now Bellway). It is a 1956 OS marked up in the early 1960's showing the limits of the green belt and the first tracts of land to be released forming what is now Newbiggin Hall, Kenton and Kingston Park.
Just look at it now
Having made a living from this stuff for many years I suppose I shouldn't complain but the failure by council planners to redevelop smaller infill brownfield sites with affordable homes while cow towing to the developer ideal of middle to upper class dwellings expanding into the countryside is a disgrace.
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ReplyDeleteThe developers wish to maximise profits. The profits on affordable housing are nothing compared to those generated by the wasteful semis that they bang up around Newcastle. Speaking to an architect I said these are wooden sheds with a brick skim and plastic fittings. "That's correct". Even the people who build and sell these sheds do not believe they will last long. Meanwhile, Gateshead Staithes is a brilliant example of sane building on re-claimed land that works according to one new resident we spoke to. The profit motive – buyers are investor's after all – is a rotten way to achieve housing policy – if there is a housing policy. I have seen elsewhere in the U.K. and near Continent very good social housing. Newcastle is setting a bench mark of an entirely bad kind. The transport implications of building away from established existing links also don't bear thinking about; congestion after years of urban road building is as bad as ever. Sprawl is the only option in the north east it seems.
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