“Despite evidence that these early new towns had pleasanter surroundings, better living conditions, social services and recreational facilities than in comparable towns or inner city, there appears to be little love for them beyond their own boundaries.
“New architects and planners can be contemptuous, critical of the new towns.
“Early new towns were radical, incredible feat of organisation, planning, sheer bloody mindedness. To this day, in an era of faux austerity where political will is such that widening inequality is seen as inevitable, and grand schemes unimaginable, the spirit of these pioneering souls and their projects should still strike even the most curmudgeonly of us as visionary and inspirational.”
[John Grindrod]