Tim Worstall

Prescott’s Plans.

The latest little piece of lunacy enthusiastically supported by our John Prescott.

Ministers believe the planning system can be used to
create sustainable suburbs, with developers being expected to encourage
biodiversity with an abundance of creepers, ponds and flowers.

But
although the suburb as a whole would have a lush green feel, the
traditional garden would be confined to history, with individual houses
having little more than a backyard.

Mmmmhm hmm. Those delightful "communal areas" in the planned estates eh? The common gardens that are so carefully maintained by council workers across the land?  What is this, are they expecting some sort of Nu Labour Man to develop? England (especially) is a country almost defined by the passionate attachment to gardening…..just look at the bloody TV schedules to see that.

There are plenty of places in the world where this isn’t true. Look at property ads for Spain or Portugal for example, and the properties for sale to the locals (sorry, intended for such for all are of course available to all) and you’ll see that gardens are rarely there, especially in urban areas.

Now this may or may not be a good thing. It might be more environmentally friendly to have these communal areas, but don’t you think this is a rather top down approach? You know, rather "we know what’s best for you" rather than "what do the people want"? Perhaps rather driven by ideology (oooh, private property bad, communal good)?

Perhaps, in a country where Alan Titchmarch and that redhead  without a bra are national heroes, we might describe this diktat that there shall be no gardens as insane?

And finally, without gardens, where are the proles to grow their own vegetables as Georges Monbiot and the like insist we all should? Perhaps the planning guidlines of the 1920s were better? A poor man required a quarter acre of garden so that he could feed his family and keep a pig. And council houses were indeed built to those standards.

In

5 responses

  1. Remittance Man Avatar
    Remittance Man

    The garden issue is but one aspect of this whole concept. To understand the full effect of “planned urban communities” I refer readers to Stevenage New Town and Harlow New Town. Both classic examples of well meaning if deluded planners imposing their preconceptions on the rest of us and creating concrete hell. Even Milton Keynes, which learnt some lessons from the ghastly mistakes of the early “new town” craze, is still a soulless place.
    Haven’t our leaders learnt anything from the cockups from the last sixty years? Or are they like the dimmer First World War generals who thought that their plan was OK and that just one last big push (the same as the fifty before) would bring victory?
    If John Prescott wasn’t such an oaf I’d be prepared to beleive this was all some sort of very complex joke being played on the British public. Sadly he is a complete moron and thus I can only suspect that he really beleives that by creating yet more Stevenages he is improving the country.
    RM

    Reply
  2. Tim Newman Avatar
    Tim Newman

    Aye, I’m sure communal gardens would be frequented by the most pleasant of society, and not by drunken youths armed with stanley knives and spray paint.

    Reply
  3. Remittance Man Avatar
    Remittance Man

    Don’t forget Tim, they’d also be maintained by people who really cared for them as well. Oh, sorry, you get arrested for that. No, they will be maintained by teams of highly skilled horticultural professionals employed by the local authority. Not a bunch of unemployable gnomes only interested in buggering off back to the council depot as soon as possible. No, not at all. Never!
    RM

    Reply
  4. the-man-in-black Avatar
    the-man-in-black

    I have been to an interesting new town in Finland, Hivinkaar (I think) about 60 miles north of Helsinkini on which many UK new towns were based.
    The difference here is that people had private gardens AND a communal space out back, that they could all look out on and view from their houses and gardens, to see if there were any youths with stanley knives or whatever. The communal bit was very nice – birch forests, ponds, paths etc. Lovely. But I think the Finns have a lot more respoect for this kind of thing.
    SO! lets have gardens and communal spaces!
    JP is a complete nob, of course, and it is testament to old labour that he is their flag bearr in the Cabinet. The OPDM is such a useless load of sh*te too and they are always coming up with such nonsense.

    Reply
  5. Remittance Man Avatar
    Remittance Man

    The Finnish example is interesting, but also, perhaps, irrelevant. Maybe the Finns and other vikings have managed to get it right, somehow the Brits have consistently failed.
    Much of the ideaology for town planning that came from Scandanavia and Europe in the 50’s and 60’s was based on the principle of creating nice, mixed environments very much like that in older towns only better. For example Le Corbussier’s tower block concept was for yuppie colonies well provided with bistros, cafes and boutique shops. The new town concept was for mixed communities with lots of small businesses, entertainment and shops intermingled with the housing.
    Unfortunately, the British government took its usual moronic, stalinist approach to community planning and slashed the budgets. Instead of mixed communities with a variety of shops, entertainment and other facilities they created dumping grounds for the least well off.
    Only token efforts were made towards providing focal points for the community (typically a souless pub and a parade of cheap jack shops). There were no private houses, only council ones. Because “zoning” is the only commandment understood by the planners, no businesses were permitted in between houses. Private gardens were discarded for a mixture of ideological and cost reasons. In the public spaces concrete prevailed because anything else cost too much to maintain.
    Unsurprisingly those residents unable to move away retreated indoors surrendering the open spaces to the gangs of feral kids, howling winds and litter.
    Given that all “town planning” in Britain was, is and always will be moronic and is, today, directed by Super Moron himself I predict these “sustainable suburbs” will become just more areas of urban deriliction and decay.
    RM

    Reply

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