Apollo Pavilion, PeterleeMONDAY 4 FEBRUARY
PETERLEE
Post-war exhaustion, drab surroundings, legendary food and utility shortages and the continuing ill-rewarded grind of daily life.....at a time like that, New Towns must have seemed like an almost Utopian idea. Transplant ordinary working-class folk from their mean streets of often gerry-built terraces and prefabs to sparkling new semis, each with its own garden (back and front), inside toilet and - if they were lucky - a view of the surrounding countryside. Even now, to our jaded and cynical 21st century ears, it sounds like a good idea.
And in truth, it was a good idea, borne of all the right motives, too - to make the lives of ordinary people brighter, cleaner and healthier. They sprang up virtually everywhere where a need for them was perceived; Cumbernauld in central Scotland to take the weary folk of Glasgow and Edinburgh; Stevenage and Harlow for the liberated citizens of London. And here in the north-east, of course, they became a particularly widespread phenomenon.
Some of them were ‘grafted’ onto pre-existing settlements - Washington, Cramlington and Killingworth - and two were built from scratch on ‘greenfield’ sites - Newton Aycliffe and (the daddy of them all) Peterlee.
Not many people can say that they are the same age as their home town, but I can! Peterlee was founded in 1948, the year I was born in nearby Easington, and we moved to Peterlee from Easington Colliery when I was 5 and the ‘new town’ consisted of a few dozen Roads, Drives, Closes, Ways and Avenues - and not a single ‘Street’. (There are still no ‘Streets’ in the town; I’ve often wondered why.)
From the start - even when I was quite young - I was always under the impression that Peterlee struggled under the weight of local opposition and even resentment. I can still almost hear people saying that they had preferred the old terraces in Horden, Shotton and South Hetton; that the sense of ‘community’ had been lost in the move to Peterlee; that the place just wasn’t wanted, whatever the Government might think.
Those in local government at the time - and almost ever since - have colluded with, and fostered, this resentment. The town wasn’t allowed a proper individual identity. The Technical College was Easington Technical College, the Leisure Centre was Easington Leisure Centre. Even the main roads through the town were Essington Way and Yoden Way (from the ancient names for Easington and Horden).
Almost from its very inception, Peterlee was resented and neglected. An innovative and inspired design for the town centre, drawn up by renowned Russian emigre architect Berthold Lubetkin, was rejected for various spurious reasons in favour of no plan at all. The result is the shambolic, disorganised town centre you see today. And the ‘second-class citizen’ status of Peterlee continues to this day. That Asda were allowed to throw together their big white ‘shed’ superstore right in the centre of the town is a disgrace of which the benighted District Council should be thoroughly ashamed. Featureless ‘off the shelf’ designs like these are unsightly even in out-of-town retail parks; questions should be asked in the House when they are allowed to blight town and city centres. (The same thing has, distressingly, happened in Chester-le-Street; the vandal there is Tesco.)
However, the appalling lack of respect shown over the last six decades by the District Council to the idea and then the reality of Peterlee - its houses, roads, buildings and people - may be weakening a little. The Apollo Pavilion, designed by artist and architect Victor Pasmore and pictured above, may at last be attracting the attention it deserves. The international artistic community is asking pointed questions about its neglect and some renovation may be in the offing. Love it or hate it, it is an important work of art by an outstanding British artist and should be treasured. Unfortunately, it stands in the territory of what must be the most notoriously and conservatively philistine Council in the world.
My Mam still lives in Peterlee and I’m there almost every day. And I like it. Indeed, I have always liked Peterlee. New Towns really were - and still are - a good idea. It is not the town’s fault that it has been forced to labour under the burden of official neglect from those charged with its care and nourishment. In fact, my greatest admiration is reserved for the people of Peterlee, who have - over 60 years - proved that they are made of the same enriching seams of fire which most of their male ancestors toiled to extract and upon which the town itself is built.
BOB’S YER UNCLE, FANNY’S YER AUNT
Today’s first question in this nine-parter is.....which fruit would you expect to eat in an Eve Pudding? Keep the first letter of the answer and await, with bated breath, the second question on Wednesday. (I have a day off on Tuesday.)
CONTACT ME
Post comments on this blog or contact me in any one (or more) of these ways....
ian.robinson@bbc.co.uk
ianstuartrobinson@googlemail.com
text 07786 200954 (while the programme is on-air)
call (between about 0545 and 0630 Monday to Friday) 0191 232 6565
Ian Robinson, The Nightshift, BBC Radio Newcastle, Spital Tongues, Newcastle-upon-Tyne NE99 1RN
NOTE
Please bear in mind that the views expressed in this blog are my own and NOT the views of the BBC.
Post-war exhaustion, drab surroundings, legendary food and utility shortages and the continuing ill-rewarded grind of daily life.....at a time like that, New Towns must have seemed like an almost Utopian idea. Transplant ordinary working-class folk from their mean streets of often gerry-built terraces and prefabs to sparkling new semis, each with its own garden (back and front), inside toilet and - if they were lucky - a view of the surrounding countryside. Even now, to our jaded and cynical 21st century ears, it sounds like a good idea.
And in truth, it was a good idea, borne of all the right motives, too - to make the lives of ordinary people brighter, cleaner and healthier. They sprang up virtually everywhere where a need for them was perceived; Cumbernauld in central Scotland to take the weary folk of Glasgow and Edinburgh; Stevenage and Harlow for the liberated citizens of London. And here in the north-east, of course, they became a particularly widespread phenomenon.
Some of them were ‘grafted’ onto pre-existing settlements - Washington, Cramlington and Killingworth - and two were built from scratch on ‘greenfield’ sites - Newton Aycliffe and (the daddy of them all) Peterlee.
Not many people can say that they are the same age as their home town, but I can! Peterlee was founded in 1948, the year I was born in nearby Easington, and we moved to Peterlee from Easington Colliery when I was 5 and the ‘new town’ consisted of a few dozen Roads, Drives, Closes, Ways and Avenues - and not a single ‘Street’. (There are still no ‘Streets’ in the town; I’ve often wondered why.)
From the start - even when I was quite young - I was always under the impression that Peterlee struggled under the weight of local opposition and even resentment. I can still almost hear people saying that they had preferred the old terraces in Horden, Shotton and South Hetton; that the sense of ‘community’ had been lost in the move to Peterlee; that the place just wasn’t wanted, whatever the Government might think.
Those in local government at the time - and almost ever since - have colluded with, and fostered, this resentment. The town wasn’t allowed a proper individual identity. The Technical College was Easington Technical College, the Leisure Centre was Easington Leisure Centre. Even the main roads through the town were Essington Way and Yoden Way (from the ancient names for Easington and Horden).
Almost from its very inception, Peterlee was resented and neglected. An innovative and inspired design for the town centre, drawn up by renowned Russian emigre architect Berthold Lubetkin, was rejected for various spurious reasons in favour of no plan at all. The result is the shambolic, disorganised town centre you see today. And the ‘second-class citizen’ status of Peterlee continues to this day. That Asda were allowed to throw together their big white ‘shed’ superstore right in the centre of the town is a disgrace of which the benighted District Council should be thoroughly ashamed. Featureless ‘off the shelf’ designs like these are unsightly even in out-of-town retail parks; questions should be asked in the House when they are allowed to blight town and city centres. (The same thing has, distressingly, happened in Chester-le-Street; the vandal there is Tesco.)
However, the appalling lack of respect shown over the last six decades by the District Council to the idea and then the reality of Peterlee - its houses, roads, buildings and people - may be weakening a little. The Apollo Pavilion, designed by artist and architect Victor Pasmore and pictured above, may at last be attracting the attention it deserves. The international artistic community is asking pointed questions about its neglect and some renovation may be in the offing. Love it or hate it, it is an important work of art by an outstanding British artist and should be treasured. Unfortunately, it stands in the territory of what must be the most notoriously and conservatively philistine Council in the world.
My Mam still lives in Peterlee and I’m there almost every day. And I like it. Indeed, I have always liked Peterlee. New Towns really were - and still are - a good idea. It is not the town’s fault that it has been forced to labour under the burden of official neglect from those charged with its care and nourishment. In fact, my greatest admiration is reserved for the people of Peterlee, who have - over 60 years - proved that they are made of the same enriching seams of fire which most of their male ancestors toiled to extract and upon which the town itself is built.
BOB’S YER UNCLE, FANNY’S YER AUNT
Today’s first question in this nine-parter is.....which fruit would you expect to eat in an Eve Pudding? Keep the first letter of the answer and await, with bated breath, the second question on Wednesday. (I have a day off on Tuesday.)
CONTACT ME
Post comments on this blog or contact me in any one (or more) of these ways....
ian.robinson@bbc.co.uk
ianstuartrobinson@googlemail.com
text 07786 200954 (while the programme is on-air)
call (between about 0545 and 0630 Monday to Friday) 0191 232 6565
Ian Robinson, The Nightshift, BBC Radio Newcastle, Spital Tongues, Newcastle-upon-Tyne NE99 1RN
NOTE
Please bear in mind that the views expressed in this blog are my own and NOT the views of the BBC.
2 comments:
Isn't it a shame, so many new towns were so badly "planned", and eventually neglected. Although the neglect does seem to be something more closely aligned with the north, as southern new towns such as Milton Keynes, Bracknell, Basingstoke and the like, are all hustling and bustling with success. I suspect it's the usual story... the closer one gets to Westminster, the more care is taken over planning, or maybe I'm being cynical.
Ryan in Hampshire
That's an interesting point, Ryan. It's curious that none of our new towns in the north-east has gained the status of the ones you mention 'down south'. And you're probably right - thats probably because more money and time WERE invested in them in the first place and have continued to be invested in them ever since.
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