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The HISTORY of REDDITCH New Town

The Corporation takes pride in having made great strides in promoting private housing,
the epitome of the open market. There are 6,833 completed dwellings and 550 further
dwellings committed on Corporation land. Such a great number of families and
developers investing their own capital in the town demonstrates the success and
confidence in the town which has been achieved. This commercial success is due much
to the policy of diversification. Not only have sites been made available from the
humblest to the most expensive housing but sites of different character, for example
within a golf course, or as a separate village, and of different density, have been
promoted.
To achieve this pyramid of housing has also necessitated the making available of land
to the widest possible range of developer types, including the Borough Council, Housing
Associations, shared ownership schemes, architect/developer competitions and self build
plots. One consistent theme has applied to all sites and that is that the individual sites
should be small, generally not exceeding 100 dwellings, and encompassed by the existing
field pattern. In addition to achieving a total overall programme of 50% housing for sale
and 50% for rent existing tenants have purchased approximately 15% of the rented
stock. The success in housing provision is indicated by the high proportion over the
period, ranging from 20% to 44%, of those leaving the rented housing to buy a house,
and for those moving to another house in Redditch (21%-38%).
The employment sector also demonstrates the economic and commercial sense of the
Corporation's policy on diversification. the annual survey of all firms in Redditch has
provided a mine of information for the employment programmes. The years have seen
a very drastic decline in the major metal based industries of the town, including within
the traditional needle and spring making firms. It has seemed at times that the
Corporation has had to run hard merely to find the employment programme stand still.
The basic policy on diversification within industrial firms has been further developed
with the principle of promoting the town for small and medium sized firms. The 1,500
firms in the new town average only 17 employees each, a factor which should ensure
a relatively stable local economy whilst providing the widest job opportunities for
residents. Most importantly the Corporation's role as a caring and flexible landlord has
reaped benefits for firms in the town.

Letting policies have allowed great opportunities for existing tenants to move to larger,
or smaller, premises and these local 'unsung heroes' have thereby been able better to
contribute to the employment wellbeing of the town. The Corporation are also proud of
the commercial success of the advanced speculative factory programme. Units varying
from high technology specialist pavilions, through a range of standard units, to the very
small enterprise units for new one man businesses, have been the backbone of
employment creation. Current letting rates vindicate the substantial earlier building
programme.
The Kingfisher Shopping Centre retains its rightful place as the feather in our cap. The
centre remains one of the largest, self-contained, enclosed and convenient shopping
centres in the country. The Corporation, with assistance from consultants, made an
early decision that the shopping centre should be a redevelopment of the existing town
centre, even though this would not be geographically central to the town. By judicious
phasing this allowed existing traders to retain and improve upon their presence whilst
at the same time increasing the size and scope of the centre in phase with population
growth. The land assembly and exchange of land with the Borough Council, together
with removal of a graveyard presented many problems but the final commercial success

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