When did we become a nation of NIMBYs?
Just before Easter bank holiday, a time when rebirth and the awakening after the winter in the spring is celebrated, I thought it might be good to reflect on the days when we weren’t a nation of NIMBYs.
The video attached to this is a catchy, if somewhat cheesy, “60 Miles by Road or Rail” vinyl 7 inch single that was released in 1980. It was inspired by a national radio jingle advertising Northampton’s convenient proximity to London that was hoping to lure people and businesses to the town from the late 1960s onwards.
Historically Northampton was a market town, but on the 14 February 1968, it was designated a New Town and an area ripe for expansion under the New Towns Act of 1965. The Northampton Development Corporation was set up to develop the town in partnership with the local Council, spending £205 million (a lot of money back then) building new housing, industrial estates and the infra structure to provide homes and jobs for Londoners and those from the south-east.
The record voiced how easy it was to commute between London and Northampton using the convenient transport links of both road - the M1 opened to the south-west of the town in 1959 - and rail. With a population of 130,000 in 1971, by 1984 it had increased to 163,000. The population today is close to 240,000, but it was estimated it would reach 260,000 by now.
How the world have changed, eh?
But at least the Government is trying to do something about it. The New Towns commission have focussed their attention on seven sites for New Towns:
Tempsford, Bedfordshire — up to 40,000 homes built around a new East West Rail station, linking residents to Cambridge, Oxford, London and Milton Keyne
Crews Hill and Chase Park, Enfield — up to 21,000 homes helping to meet London’s acute housing need
Leeds South Bank, West Yorkshire — up to 20,000 homes capitalising on the city’s economic momentum and the government’s £2.1 billion local transport investment
Manchester Victoria North, Greater Manchester — at least 15,000 homes regenerating the heart of Greater Manchester, with a new Metrolink stop connecting residents to jobs across the city
Thamesmead, Greenwich — up to 15,000 homes unlocking inaccessible riverside land in London, enabled by the planned Docklands Light Railway extension
Brabazon and the West Innovation Arc, South Gloucestershire — up to 40,000 homes at the heart of a world-class research and advanced engineering economy
Milton Keynes, Buckinghamshire — building on its history as one of the original new towns, to take forward the ‘renewed town’ vision to expand the city by around 40,000 homes and reinvigorate the centre with a new local transport system, boosting connectivity in the Oxford-Cambridge Growth Corridor
Let us hope that these existing communities are as enthusiastic about being New Towns as they were in the 60’s, 79’s and 80’s about the huge investment and growth in Northampton.
Have a wonderful easter break!
Henry