society

This town, is coming like an Eco Town

“This town, is coming like a ghost town
All the clubs have been closed down
This place, is coming like a ghost town
Bands won’t play no more
too much fighting on the dance floor”

Lyrics there from Ghost Town by the Specials, which, if you replace ghost with eco, may prove an ominous prophecy for the future of Eco Towns. Listen to the track here:

For a blast from the past, click here to listen to Harry J and the Allstars, Liquidator).

What would Captain Planet make of the proposed ‘Eco Towns’ in the UK? Well, I think he’d wouldn’t be too bothered because if he were real, he would now be getting epically BD with the growing hoards of eco-conscious ladies in the UK. Captain Planet would be getting laid on the scale of George Best in the 70s, as the environment has justifiably nudged to the forefront of the minds of those well-off enough to have a choice as to what car they drive, where they source their vegetables and an ability to buy bags that are anything but free plastic bags.

I have digressed from the outset, what I actually want to consider is the following statement from Hegel in the context of the ‘New Towns’ of the UK and the proposed Eco Towns;

“What experience and history teach is this-that people and governments never have learned anything from history, or acted on principles deduced from it”

Under very different circumstances (i.e the conclusion of the second World War) the government made moves to reconstruct the UK against a backdrop of a country with a changing economic composition (certain industries growing, some dying) and a people displaced through the attrition of the War. This led to a program of developing New Towns (predominantly in the South East) with stellar line-up including Bracknell, Basildon, Stevenage and Harlow. There was then a second and third wave of ‘New Towns’ (between the 60s and 70s) including places such as Milton Keynes, Skelmersdale and Northampton.

The fortunes of these New Towns have been as varied as the response you might get from the government  when questioned on their stance on Eco Towns. At the one end of the scale you have towns such as Skelmersdale, Welwyn Garden City and Basildon that either feature or were nominated for inclusion in The Idler’s infamous “Crap Towns” book. From personal experience, Skelmersdale is really quite a grim place, with roundabout after roundabout which has developed a grim and dark undertone which you might expect considering it lives in the shadow of Liverpool, which despite it’s undoubted importance to the UK, has struggled somewhat over the last 30 years to cope with the sector shifts in the UK economy. On the topic of Basildon, apparently the locals have taken to calling a certain part of town (which I assume is akin to some sort of Essex Sin City) as ‘Bas Vegas’ . This reminds me of my home town Torbay, which the locals have taken to calling Torbaydos (the similarities are negligable although Torbay does have some of the highest incidents of bankrupcy, teenage pregnancy and lowest wages in the UK).

On the other end of the scale you have Milton Keynes (much maligned by the masses but admired by many ‘in the know’ such as town planners, architects and business leaders) and Bracknell which have massively exceeded the population targets set for them and will no doubt go from strength to strength over the next 20 years.

The point of showing the diverse fortunes of the ‘New Towns’ in the context of Eco Towns and Hegels quote is that the government should heed these examples (and one of the main maxims of property); it is location, location, location which is important here. In the context of Eco Towns, it is actually “location, location, location” squared. Firstly, the government needs to be forward-looking in deciding where these eco-towns are going to be; what is the UK demographic going to look like in 20 years and how do Eco Towns fit in? Secondly, the government needs to be forward-looking in terms of industry; where Bracknell & Milton Keynes have succeeded is the fact that they are replaced to act as a alternative or secondary location for the London-centric service industry. What industries are a ‘good-fit’ with Eco Towns and where should they be located to benefit from this?

By their very nature, Eco Towns will be a major step in environmentally conscious living and if done properly, should allow the UK to demonstrate to the rest of World what is achievable. However, the challenge is really to make them economically sustainable i.e. to be desirable for people to live in and to be desirable to industries (of a suitable nature) to want to locate near.

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