A Radical Greater Birmingham Council ?

I suspect that I’m probably not alone in feeling more than a little “fin de siecle” just now. In fact, the more I think about it, the more I’m reminded of a certain 1980s feeling, particularly associated with the second half of that decade. Many will recall those “Loads of Money” days when “Greed was Good”, and there were lots of of speculative development proposals around, some of which manifested themselves in the real world, and others remained in the realm of fantasy,  that is until now.

The 1990s, from my point of view, brought a more “grounded” perspective to the development community, by which I mean property developers, quangos and some of the more ambitious local authorities. I’m hoping that this more grounded view of things will also re-emerge in the near future, in the context of the inevitable cycle of economic and polical change.

However, having expressed my strong preference for groundedness, I’d also like to express my support for radical solutions to some present problems. One of today’s frontpage stories in The Birmingham Post (admitted below a large photograph of this week’s flooding, and an article on the prospective expansion of Birmingham International Airport) is entitled “Tory plan to give region all-powerful mayor” :

“Plans for a revolution in local government, drawn up by Tory grandee Michael Heseltine, would give the mayor of Birmingham more powers than London Mayor Ken Livingstone”.

Now this could well be an idea whose time has come. Although, speaking personally, my preference might be for a mayor with some of the vision and powers of early vintage Livingstone, when he was Leader of the Greater London Council (the GLC, it will be remembered, was abolished by the Conservative Government of Margaret Thatcher in 1986). The current Greater London Authority (GLA), is, in a number of respects, a mere shadow of its former self.

I  very much hope that Birmingham and the West Midlands are up for more radical solutions, because the regional environment and economy certainly need them. I’m thinking of something “discovered” by politicians in the second half of the 1980s called sustainable development, only this time it needs to be for real. Now a radical new Greater Birmingham Council could find few better places to start than regional transport policy, noting the some of the successful policies of the GLA and, particularly, of the former GLC.

“The Key to an Urban Renaissance”

A couple of days ago Harriet Swatman posted this comment in response to my blog on the subject of “The West Midlands – How Not to Plan”  :

“Wondering if your views against dispersal cover the Millennium Community planned in Telford? What do you know about the design?”

 First of all, I have to say that I do not know very much about Telford. A Radio 4 (“Costing the Earth” ?) programme the other week said that the development plan proposed for the new town was the second largest in England, after the Thames Gateway.

Now, I do know something about the Thames Gateway, having lived and worked there from the mid 1980s to 2001 (even before it became known as the Thames Gateway). In fact, I worked on the early days of the “millennium programme” for the Greenwich Waterfront (pre-Dome !) and believe that there is a “Millennium Community” adjoining the 02 Arena, as the Dome is now known. As far as I can gather, these developments are sustainable, providing they are in the right place, and are widely regarded as excellent examples of “green” urban design. 

With regard to my knowledge of “design”, I’m not a designer by profession. However, I have worked with some very good urban designers (who’ve also been quite good friends). From my aquaintances, I learned that some architects and planners (perhaps most !) relish the opportunity to “design” new communities and that some people very much like living in these, event if others regard them less favourably.

I’m thinking, for instance, of Thamesmead in the Thames Gateway, where one of my friends used to live and work. Thamesmead is probably about the same era as Telford, maybe a little more recent, and contains some rather good and rather bad examples of urban design, as, I suspect, does Telford, but there on a rather larger scale.

As with location, a key issue for me in relation to new communities (Millennium, Eco, Carbon Neutral etc) is that of scale. I do not support “major new settlments” on the scale of  Milton Keynes or Telford. However, I certainly do respect the case for some development of such communities : whether within the existing built environment, as with the Port Greenwich “Millennium Community”; or as “sustainable urban extensions” (provided these really are sustainable, which I think is probably not the case for some of Telford’s proposed development programme – even if this does have the support of the local wildlife trust !).

However, I am broadly against the planned dispersal of population from the Major Urban Areas. I would say that this policy has worked against not only environmental sustainability, but also a more sustainable economy and “community” in the West Midlands Region.  I do, nevertheless, agree with Harriet Swatman that design is “The Key to an Urban Renaissance”, as it is to all good town planning, and very much concur with the sentiments of Lord Rogers in a 2004 FT article on this subject, from which the title of this blog is taken. In this article, Lord Rogers also notes :

” But it is wrong to use green areas until all the useable brownfield land – of which there is plenty in nearby Birmingham – is built on. A massive opportunity to transform the empty quarters of our second city is being overlooked”.