The rented housing stock designed in the main, by the Chief Architects Department of the Development Corporation and within the designated area of Cwmbran New Town is unique in Wales. It indicates very clearly within a comparatively small area the various changes in housing design layout brought about by the continual shift in the social and economic conditions during thirty year plus life of the New Town. There were three distinct changes in the design approach adopted by the three Chief Architects of the Development Corporation, brought about in part by these changing conditions. (i) Phase1. John West 1950-61, (ii) Phase2. Gordon Redfern 1962-1969, (iii) Phase 3. Jim Russell 1970-82.
Phase 1. 1950-61 (John West)
Cwmbran was designated as a New Town in November 1949 with a designated area of approximately 1275 hectares and was required for a population of 35,000. The Planners appointed to produce the Master Plan of the proposed town were Minoprio and Spencely a London based firm of Architects and Planning Consultants who had already produced master plans for other new towns in England.
Early in 1950, as the Corporations Architect Department had not been fully staffed the first housing scheme at Ty Newydd for some 40 houses was designed by the Consultants Minoprio and Spencely and the type of housing layout used- houses accessed directly off a main spine road with secondary or cul-de-sac roads off-was the design principle adopted during the John West period.
It should be remembered that cars were few and far between in the fifties and Government policy was to provide 1 car space for every 4 houses. This lack of planning foresight by the government planners during this period resulted in large areas of landscaping having to be destroyed in the seventies to provide desperately needed car parking spaces, for by then, these well designed housing areas were being dominated by the motor car causing congestion on access roads and downgrading the environment.
Cwmbran led the way for good housing design throughout the Principality, during this period and throughout the life of the Corporation. Sympathetically designed and well maintained landscaping was always a priority and even though some of these landscape areas were destroyed as explained above, good examples can still be seen in the three main housing areas designed and built in the first period, at West Pontnewydd, Croesyceiliog and Llanyravon.
The early houses were built of brick but as pressure mounted to provide speedier handovers to satisfy the ever increasing demands for rented accommodation John West turned to specialised contractors such as John Laing with their `Easyform` concrete dwellings and Wimpeys with their `No fines` concrete dwellings.
It was in 1961 that two events occurred effecting the development of the town (i) in June the Department of Environment approved an increase in the population up to 45,000 and (ii) the most important report relating to the future requirements of housing in England and Wales since the Dudley report in 1994, was published. It was called Homes for Today and Tomorrow and issued by the Department of the Environment.
It was known generally as the Parker Morris Report as the Chairman of the Committee was Sir Parker Morris. The major changes required in the report can be summed up in three words- Layout, space and heating. The recommendations in this report were not implemented until the second phase of development under Gordon Redfern.
Phase 2. 1962-69 (Gordon Redfern)
During this period, under Gordon Redfern, the main changes, following the recommendations in the Parker Morris report, was to design all housing layouts, separating, wherever possible, the pedestrian from the vehicle. Under passes or bridges were built where pedestrian ways had to cross distributor roads and no pavements were provided on such roads. all schools and shopping centres were served by pedestrian ways and therefore both children and adults went from their house to these two objectives on paths free from traffic. - Small play areas for younger children, called todlots, were provided off these pedestrian ways and young mothers could therefore be confident that their child was playing in a safe environment away from traffic.
Under the Parker Morris requirements the area of the house was increased considerably, central heating was provided in all houses, (previously coal fires were the only form of heating in rented housing) kitchen layouts were greatly improved, the number of power points was laid down and car parking provision was required to be one car space per household. The first housing area designed under these new regulations was at Fairwater 1 and the type of layout employed was an American system known as the Radburn System.
It was a very rigid layout with rows of terraced housing 70 feet apart with the front of houses facing each other, the area so formed was the pedestrian access whilst the rear of the houses gave access to the service yard and car parking area. all the remainder of the housing designed and built during this period which included St. Dials, Greenmeadow and most of Coed-Eva, although pedestrian vehicular segregation was still paramount a freer approach was adopted in regard to layout.
Pedestrian ways were designed to be on the northern side of the house, this accounts for the small windows which concerns some people, particularly in the Coed-Eva housing. These windows light the kitchen, toilets and bathroom and therefore give privacy to these rooms, the lounge, dining room and bedrooms have large windows and face south on to the private garden of the house.
At Coed-Eva the form of construction was changed from the traditional brick outer skin with a lightweight block inner skin, to a timber frame inner skin with either a timber or brick outer skin.
This form of construction, the first in Wales, was developed in collaboration with a large South Wales Contractor and an American Engineer. It enabled houses to be built speedier, as all the timber framing, forming the inner skin of the houses was factory made, this element of the house could be transported to the site and erected within a day. Houses were also far better insulated with this form of construction than that being achieved with the traditional built house, resulting in the heating costs to tenant being considerably reduced. Because little or no water was used in the construction of the dwelling the initial occupiers were not troubled by condensation during the drying out period.
Phase 3. 1970-1982 (Jim Russell)
By 1970 people were becoming concerned at the restriction in pedestrian movement due to the discipline inherent in pedestrian vehicular segregated housing schemes. It had been proved that accidents in such housing designed layouts were greatly reduced from the more conventional layouts but there was a continual demand for a far freer and less controlled environment. Car ownership was increasing dramatically and tenants were also concerned that there car, being probably their most important financial asset, was not parked adjacent to their house but in a communal car park some distance away.
A new philosophy on the design of housing layouts was therefore required from Jim Russell. It evolved in this way. It was felt that pedestrian vehicular segregation should not be totally disregarded, the main desire points such as schools and shops, would, wherever possible be served by pedestrian ways.
(i) All houses however would be grouped in courts of up to 20 units, this enabled such groups to form a community spirit within each court and this community spirit would embrace the whole of the housing area.
(ii) A car space would be provided outside each of the dwellings and dense landscaping would be planted to dominate the affect of the car. Second cars, visitors cars and caravans would be parked in car parks designed outside the courts but off the access road to the courts, this would now give 180% car parking provision, the highest in Wales.
(iii) although tenants cars and pedestrians would mix within the court, cars would enter and exit the court from or on to a pedestrian way.
(iv) Each court and it's landscaping belonged to all the tenants within the court and therefore became what is known as a defensible space, this meant it would be less likely to be vandalised.
(v) Each court on completion would be handed over as an entity, this included not only the dwellings but the landscaping, lighting and final surface on the roadway, tenants would therefore move into a completed environment and would not have any problems, generally associated with the occupancy of new houses, of the morass of contractors mud, equipment and materials.
Hollybush 1. was a forerunner of this intended layout whilst Thornhill was the first area where it was fully adopted. a further development of the principle of this type of layout was carried out at Edlogan Way in Croesyceiliog. This housing scheme was designed and built for the then recently formed Torfaen Council and their brief was to integrate the physically handicapped into the community.
It was therefore decide to build a specially designed house, for the physically handicapped, into each of the courts. Ramps would be provided, wherever necessary instead of steps, together with dropped kerbs at junctions at junctions of road and path, this enabled the wheelchair users to have complete freedom to visit any of the neighbours without having to overcome any obstacles. The physically handicapped person was able to be integrated into the community and to have the freedom of movement that had not been available to them previously.
During this period the relationship between the Corporation and the Local Authority became very co-operative, this had not always been the case. The Corporations Architects Department was invited to carry out all the architectural work for the Local Authority within the designated area and this invite was readily accepted. This work included, not only the Edlogan Way housing scheme, but all the elderly persons complexes which the Local Authorities were responsible for providing. This included the aged persons complexes at Hollybush -which received a housing design award from the Welsh Office -Two Locks Road, Pen y parc an Edlogan Way.
It was becoming apparent at this time. that there would be insufficient housing land to achieve the target population of 55,000 within the area originally designated, this resulted in the proposals being drafted and ultimately approved to expand into the Henllys area. During the late 70`s because of the expansion of Henllys had not yet been approved, housing was restricted to infill sites, the one off Mount Pleasant Road, Pontnewydd received a Welsh Office Housing Medal Award as did the conversion of the semi derelict tinplate workers cottages at Garw Row.
An interesting scheme was a block of flats built at the bottom of Edlogan Way, these were intended as accommodation for university students as it was confidently expected that UWIST at Cardiff would be relocated to a site at Llantarnam. Unfortunately due to government financial restrictions the intended move was shelved and the site was developed for industry and is known as Llantarnam Industrial Park.
The last housing scheme designed and built in this period was at Hollybush, off the Henllys Road, and once again economic factors played their part. In 1981 `value for money` became the Governments `in phrase` and Parker Morris standards, as a result, were beginning to be eroded. The area of houses were reduced and architects were required, at the design stage, to satisfy the District Valuer that value for money was being achieved otherwise approval to continue was withheld.
From 1970 to 1982 Jim Russell was also Chief Architect and Planning Officer for the expansion, under the New Town Act, of the historic old town of Newtown, Montgomeryshire and the Architects Department responsible for the development of both towns in the peak years, handed over some 700 houses per year.
Summing up
Of course there are deficiencies, and mistakes were made in designing and building some 10,000 houses, but no one could predict the social, economic and technological changers that have taken place over the thirty year life of the development of Cwmbran. The changing policies of successive governments have been inconsistent and unhelpful. The three phase of housing development in Cwmbran each contributed, and helped to pioneer, new planning theories in Wales. The town was built for people, and people matter, it is only therefore the people who live in the houses provided for them that can pass judgment on whether or not they are reasonably satisfied with the quality of the environment in which they live.
J.L. Russell
Chief Architect & Planning Officer
Cwmbran & Newtown Development Corporation 1970-82
Permission kindly given by Ms Shaw to myself, webmaster on January 30th 2004 to include extracts from her publication
Memories of Cwmbran New Town
November 1977