Page 4 - RNT-C12

The HISTORY of REDDITCH New Town

When the new town was designated in 1964 the population was 32,000, with a small
Urban District within the County of Worcester. At a population of 73,500, and rising fast
and with an employee workforce of over 25,000, as a Borough, the town now holds
second place to the City of Worcester in size, but now within the new County of Hereford
and Worcester. With the dynamism already generated within the town, Redditch is
already recognised as having the largest growth potential in the Structure Plan which
will make it the largest town in the County. The town is also well placed to harness an
upturn in the national economy, both in its location relative to motorways under
construction and in its potential for accommodating both industry and commerce.
The town now has the social and physical infrastructure necessary to meet the second
industrial revolution-The Information Technology Revolution-and gear itself for the
twenty-first century.

The Corporation supports the need for the appropriate Authorities to consider the longer
term future of the town and the Secretary of State's request for such a joint study is
timely. Indeed, previously, in response to the West Midlands Regional Study Report of
1971 the Development Corporation, in association with Warwickshire and
Worcestershire, was able to show that Redditch could be expanded in physical terms to
a population of 150,000.
The pressure groups and Local Authorities which are currently aligned to prevent further
significant growth present a formidable force. It is to be hoped that the absence of the
Corporation and the limited role of the Commission for the New Towns will not result in
the lack of a driving force able to capitalise on the very considerable potential the town
has to stimulate the flagging economy of the region.

Redditch has never been remarkable for its historic buildings, nor for its standard of
townscape and it was therefore with something of a clean slate that the Corporation
started. There was, however, a mature and attractive landscape and the Corporation
are particularly pleased with the outcome of the endeavours to retain and enhance this
aspect of the environment. Landscape works have not only won many awards in their
own right but the early efforts now provide a mature and attractive setting for all the
building works.
One of the Corporation's early policies established the low rise nature of family housing
which, together with traditional designs, traditional materials and retention of trees and
hedgerows, has made the town one in which it is attractive for families to live. In
consequence the social and other problems associated with the 1960s high rise, high
density housing and the construction failures of much industrialised housing have been
avoided.
Through the policy of firm site development briefs for every site, it has been possible
to ensure the evolution and coherence of a new townscape within which only key
buildings, such as the spire of St. Stephen's Church, have predominated.
The indigenous species used in new planting, the selection of materials together with
other design principles, such as highway lighting, which have been consistently used
throughout the town, have vindicated early concepts on creating a total environment.
Creating a safe place in which to live has been a keynote of the highway and pedestrian
networks. Although the hierarchy of roads evolved before the oil crisis of the early 1970s

Page: 274