New Town Utopia

Dir: Christopher Ian Smith

2017

****

There seems to be a real decline in schools teaching sociology these days which is a huge shame, as I believe it is that one lesson that proved most helpful in post-school/adult life. Sociology is the study of society, patterns of social relationships, social interaction and culture of everyday life. It is a social science that uses various methods of empirical investigation and critical analysis to develop a body of knowledge about social order, acceptance, and change or social evolution. If you aren’t socially aware then there is something missing. That’s what I believe anyway, I also don’t understand people who ‘Aren’t interested in History’. I digress. New Town Utopia was first brought to my attention by a musician I follow, the rather brilliant Phil Burdett, who is interviewed and whose music features in the film also. Phil Burdett is a great musician and an amazing lyricist, and when he says somethings good I believe him. The film also has a wicked poster. My heart sank a little when I learned that the film was about Basildon, but comes down to subconscious prejudice, which the film challenges. The first historical reference to Basildon is in records from 1086. It is mentioned in the Domesday Book as 'Belesduna'. The name 'Basildon' may be derived from the Anglo-Saxon personal name 'Boerthal' and the Anglo-Saxon word 'dun', meaning hill. In historical documents, this name had various forms over the centuries, including Berdlesdon, Batlesdon and Belesduna. However, when people think Basildon they think concrete jungle, a vision of the future from a forgotten past. In the late 1940’s, after the Second World War, Billericay Urban District Council and Essex County Council, concerned by lack of amenities in the area and by its development, petitioned the Government to create a New Town. Basildon was one of eight 'New Towns' created in the South East of England after the passing of the New Towns Act, created in part after so much of London was bombed during the blitz. People wanted new beginnings, a bit of countryside, away from the smog and the capitol City that was left in ruins. On 4 January 1949 Lewis Silkin, Minister of Town and Country Planning, officially designated Basildon as a 'New Town'. His famous speech celebrating the future town is read out throughout the film by Jim Broadbent. Basildon Development Corporation was formed in February 1949 to transform the designated area into a modern new town. The New Town was laid out around small neighbourhoods with the first house being completed in June 1951. A large, illuminated town sign "Basildon Town Centre Site" at 3.5 feet was erected in 1956 by the railway and stood until early construction was completed. The history of Basildon from the 1940 to present day is told by residents old and new, some who moved just after the war and others who were born and bred there, although most of the interviewees are artists, poets and musicians. Between them they explain how they or their parents were coaxed out of London with a promise of a golden future in a modernist new town. A New Town Utopia as the title suggests. Some interviewees reminisce about childhood spent hiding in the many secret alleyways built around the area, comparing the landscape as one great big concrete playground. A place like Basildon will always divide opinion when it comes to aesthetics. Personally, as run down as parts of it are, I see much beauty in its brutalist design. Brutalism being something you either love or you hate. I get the impression that the residents, and former residents interviewed perhaps appreciate it more now then they did growing up surrounded by it. Unlike many of the surrounding areas, Basildon didn’t quite become the London commuter belt which would typically pump money into an area, things are a little different now, but the fancy apartment blocks of the 40s weren’t so fancy during the 70s and 80s and are only being appreciated as was intended, 70 years after they were built. It is safe to say that there has always been resentment in the area. Resentment that the utopia never really happened, that many promises weren’t kept, that it has been in decline due to lack of funding for a very long time and that if the families had stayed in London, their properties there would now be worth large amounts of money. It wasn’t all bad though. Creativity always rises up through poverty and Basildon had many great clubs and venues throughout the 70s and has produced more hit bands per square meter then any other town in England. The film also looks at social housing and the impact of Thatcher's right-to-buy policy; the neglect of creative and cultural facilities by national and local government; and the demonisation of working class people by the British media. Basildon was always considered a barometer of public opinion in general elections. The results of the constituency elections were the same as the overall result of general elections from 1983 to its abolition in 2010 and Basildon was said to epitomise the working class conversion to Thatcherism during the 1980s, though the town did not vote Conservative in 1979. Nor did the Conservative Party ever hold an absolute majority in the town – its success was due to the split between the SDP and the Labour Party. Basildon isn’t unique in this respect but it was always the first town people turned to. It has always had a bad reputation, one that has always been unjust and woefully unfair. This documentary doesn’t just condemn the flawed visions of the past but also looks at the injustice and under-funding of the present. It’s a lesson from the past and the present that the future should take heed from. That said, it is also a celebration of a community and a reminder that governments, politicians and councils don’t make towns, people do. A fantastic slice of modern sociology.