The BBC Wales documentary on the future of the South Wales Valleys
broadcast on 16 March 2015* may be justified as provoking debate but what is
desperately needed is intelligent and rational discussion of the issues. Engineering
yet another confrontational exchange may be the default setting for those
making cheap television but will do little to address the deep rooted social
and economic problems of this or other parts of Wales. All too often any
meaningful progress has been retarded by this approach in which reasoning turns
quickly to rhetoric.
The documentary did little to properly explore the issues
that were raised by Jonathan Adams in his IWA paper entitled A Catalyst for
Reshaping the Valley Towns. The key point is in the word ‘reshaping’ and the
prevailing tone of the trailers and the programme implied some vague proposal
for a latter day Highland Clearance. The suggestion originally made by Jonathan
Adams was neither ‘radical’ or ‘controversial’ as claimed by the narrator of
the documentary and can in fact be seen to
be a simple reiteration of observations made in the South Wales Outline Plan of
1949;
“ One of the major tasks facing the present generation is to devise
means for rejuvenating the (mining) valleys…. The environment of those who live
and work in these valleys must be radically improved……. The dual objective of
physical planning in these (mining) areas must be to so ameliorate present
conditions that industry can function more efficiently, and that those living
there and dependent on it can do so in surroundings, and as part of a social
structure, comparable with the best standards of modern neighbourhood
planning”(South Wales Outline Plan 1949, p19)
The 1949 plan also suggested that the clearance and ‘thinning
out’ of outworn dwellings was part of this process of renovation together with
better communications, schools and community centres and recreation facilities.
An underlying point is that the settlements in that particular area were
dysfunctional from the time they were built. The 1949 plan recognised that the
impact of coal mining on forms of urban development was the rapid unplanned construction of “dwellings
anywhere and anyhow” and an “untidy sprawl of towns and villages”. In short the
settlements were produced by an inherently toxic combination of economic imperative
and challenging topography. The proposals by Jonathan Adams are then more
optimistic than the view of the great urban geographer Harold Carter in The Towns of Wales in 1965:
“The general character
of these towns is, unfortunately, only too well known, and modern planning can
do but little to improve it”
It is not then a novel debate nor did the documentary make any
new observations. Those settlements that were the focus of the programme were
largely the product of coal mining, an industry which grew from the 1850’s in
that area, peaked in 1913 and progressively declined until 1989.
In short it is 25 years since it’s been gone and 40 years since Max Boyce
recorded Rhondda Grey and the issues
are still not being discussed rationally.
The relationship between the Valleys and Cardiff was again
raised as a contentious issue although that should be recognised as being
symbiotic since BEFORE the industrialisation of South Wales. Cardiff relied
upon its hinterland when its principal export was butter. Industrialisation must
be seen to have been entirely dependent upon transport infrastructure for only
with the construction of railways and connection to docks at Cardiff would the mining
industry and ports grow from the 1840’s. Communications remain central to the overall
prosperity of the region and this has, again, been a standing issue since the South
Wales Outline Plan of 1947;
“As to regional communications, drastic
improvements are called for ……. Though geographical circumstances in South
Wales, and particularly in the mining valleys, often cause difficulties in
attaining that end” (P10)
The documentary also did a disservice to the counter
arguments for the Valleys. Clearly there
has been a need to address the catastrophic decline in the mining and other industries
of South Wales. As was pointed out in
the course of the programme interventions in the form of factory building to create
and diversify employment have been undertaken since the 1930’s when
unemployment in the Valleys was around 40%. Interestingly the first major
initiative, even then, involved the establishment of the Treforest Trading
Estate on 272 acres of land closer to the coastal belt. The Distribution of
Industries Act 1945 granted extensive powers to the Board of Trade for;
· Building
factories in the old ‘Distressed Areas’ and providing finance for industrial
estates.
·
The provision for grants or loans to be made
available to industrialists willing to establish factories in in these areas
and
·
Financial aid for improvement of basic services
and clearance of derelict sites
From the 1970’s there were the land reclamation programmes, industrial
estates and other major interventions of the Welsh Development Agency. These
so-called ‘regeneration’ initiatives have undoubtedly mitigated the full impact
of industrial decline but, overall, GDP figures and other statistics suggest
that the Valleys are falling further behind the European average. The area remains
consistently at the top of league tables for inequalities of poverty, health
and education. Since devolution over £1.2bn
of European aid has been spent in the Valleys and West Wales and nearly £300m on
flagship Communities First projects to reduce poverty and empower the poorest
areas in Wales. As to the latter the Welsh Assembly's Public Accounts Committee
suggest that such initiatives have failed and the conclusion must be that small
community based projects, as worthy and well intentioned as they are, will not
in themselves reverse the damaging legacy of massive industrial decline.
A forty minute television programme is not going produce a
solution to the problems of the Valleys. From the outset the people who live
there had to confront adversity from the nature of the predominant form of employment
itself, mining, and the nature of the people who employed them. That history of
struggle might even be said to inform the tenor of the argument put on their
behalf in that television programme which was one of aggressive sentimentality.
It most certainly colours their response to proposals emerging from Cardiff,
London or Brussels and therein lays another problem. City regions have been a
given through the course of human settlement and the vocal denial of this fact
by those who claim to represent valley communities has retarded initiatives
which might benefit the region and there is every sign that they will continue
to do so. The deep seated parochialism of the Valleys communities can be
represented as local pride and independence but there will come a time when the
world will decide it can move on without them.
The people of Wales and many elsewhere fully recognise that
there is a unique history and character in the South Wales valleys and acknowledge
that it has contributed significantly to a distinct regional identity. However,
it may well be the case that more negative perceptions will be formed by the
repeated claims that their lifestyle choice to remain there must be perpetuated
by permanent subsidy of others in wider society. That was the impression given
by those opposing Jonathan Adams proposition and a much more positive and
constructive approach and tone may be needed to avoid further alienation of the
Valleys from other communities in Wales. My first job was in Cardiff Docks and there
was a tacit understanding that I would be obliged to go there i.e. they weren't
going to bring the boats around to Skewen to save me the bother.
*http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b05gndqz/how-green-is-my-valley-a-future-for-the-valleys
