Cwmbran Development Corporation, Records

D2603

Cwmbran Development Corporation, Records

1920-1990

The collection contains the administrative records of the Cwmbran Development Corporation, including the records of the General Manager and Managing Director (1949-1988); Technical Officers (1920-1990); Planning Officer (1951-1987); Estates Officer (1950-1987)

English

Open

Cwmbran Development Corporation

Cwmbran New Town was designated as a new town in 1949 as one of 14 ?Mark One? towns chosen for development under the New Towns Act 1946. It was the first new town to be designated in Wales. Unlike other new towns there was ample existing industry in the area with 20 existing factories employing 6000 workers as well as major industries.Therefore the aim of the project was to create homes and a balanced community by correcting an existing imbalance. The designated area covered 3,160 acres of land including the existing villages of Cwm-bran, Pontnewydd and Croes-y-ceiliog. The plan would take the existing population of c.13,000 people first to an initial target population of 35,000, a target which was increased to 45,000 in 1962 and again to 55,000 in 1969. This later target has still not been reached in 2023.

The Cwmbran Development Corporation was formed on 24 November 1949 to bring this plan into being. J C P West was appointed as the Chief Architect and Lt-Col A Borlane was the Chief Engineer. The first Chairman of the Development Corporation Board was T H Huxley Turner. In 1970 Lord Raglan, a politician and local landowner became the Chairman, smoothing relationships between the CDC and local authorities.

In March 1950 the firm of Minoprio & Spencely & P W Macfarlane were appointed as planning consultants (comprising the planners Anthony Minoprio, Hugh G.C. Spencely and Peter Macfarlane). Anthony Minoprio had developed the masterplan for Crawley in 1947 and so was experienced in the requirements of the new town developments.

A year later in March 1951, `A Plan prepared for The Cwmbran Development Corporation? was submitted to the Minister for Town and Country Planning. In his foreword to the published plan, T H Huxley Turner wrote that ?Within the framework of this Master Plan it is hoped will be created a happy, friendly and pleasing place which will set a standard of what an industrial town should be?. With only three objections at a subsequent public inquiry, the Master Plan for Cwmbran was approved in December 1951.

The Cwmbran Master plan outlined a plan for seven residential areas: Pontnewydd, Greenmeadow, St Dials, Coedeva, Oakfield, Croes-y-ceiliog North and Croes-y-ceiliog South (renamed Llanyravon). Each of these residential areas was designed for a population of c.5,000 with its own neighbourhood centre incorporating a small shopping centre, a primary school, and community buildings such as a hall, clinic, and library branch. These areas would be linked together by a new road network with new bridges over the existing railway line, canal, and river. A new town centre would be created to provide a civic, commercial and transport centre on the plain in the centre of the valley.

In the climate of South Wales, the choice to use flat roofs in some areas, particularly in Fairwater quickly required remedial work, as they were ?virtually impossible to make watertight?. In contrast the mono-pitched roofs in Coedeva won awards for their design as did other designs.Later population target increases resulted in the addition of six smaller neighbourhoods, Upper Cwmbran, Thornhill, Fairwater, Hollybush/Two Locks, Llanyravon and Southville. The town centre was also redesigned between 1963 and 1977.

The Cwmbran Development Corporation was wound up in 1988, although the gradual process of disposing of its assets was started earlier in that decade. In total 10,199 homes were built by the Cwmbran Development Corporation during its existence, mainly as rental properties. Overall, 4,083 houses were sold off; a large proportion (3,068) were sold to their tenants under the 1980 `Right to Buy' scheme. In 1986 the remainder of the houses, the recreational and open spaces and the neighbourhood centres were transferred to Torfaen Borough Council.Ladbrokes bought the town centre in its entirety in 1985. They modernised the centre which still operates under the name ?Cwmbran Shopping?. The Henllys expansion area which had been designated in 1978 in an attempt to meet the 55,000-population target was sold to developers and Land Authority Wales for development. Employment units were sold to the private sector and to the Welsh Development Agency.

Unlike the new towns in England there was no ?stewardship? body set up to manage Cwmbran?s assets following the end of the Development Corporation. The records of the Cwmbran Development Corporation were deposited directly with Gwent County Record Office in December 1987 in anticipation of the formal closure of the Corporation on the 31 March 1988.

?Bibliography (See Publication Details)

• Katy Lock and Hugh Ellis, New Towns: The Rise, Fall and Rebirth, (RIBA, 2020)
• Minoprio & Spencely & P W Macfarlane, 'Cwmbran New Town: A plan developed for the Cwmbran Development Corporation’ (March 1951)
• S Fielding, ‘Site Record: Cwmbran’, Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Wales (April 2018) accessed on 31 October 2023 https://coflein.gov.uk/en/site/408671
• Philip Riden, Rebuilding a Valley, (Cwmbran Development Corporation, 1988)
• Edward Holland and Julian Holder, Report for Cadw: Advice to Inform Post-War Listing In Wales (Holland Heritage, March 2019) accessed 7th November 2023 https://cadw.gov.wales/sites/default/files/2019-06/Cadw%20Post-war%20report%20FINAL%20March%2019_0.pdf