Infrastructure: Stuff that nobody cares about until it affects them.
In the story of ‘Great’ Britain the railway as a communication system was exported all around the world, the question is: why would a nation that gave birth to the railway and build a vast integrated network over 100 years choose to destroy it? That is exactly what happened in the UK. At its height there were 120 railway companies operating in the UK, eventually that became 4 that were brought together under government control during WWII. After six years of being worked to destruction, they were in desperate need of renewal and the four companies were on the verge of bankruptcy.
The 1947 general election was a landslide for the Labour party, who set about an ambitious programme of social reform to rebuild the nation, these reforms included the creation of the welfare state, that National Health Service and the nationalization of much of the infrastructure, from power generation, manufacturing to transportation. In terms of transportation it was not just the railways that were nationalised, but road transport, docks and inland waterways along with the railways to create an integrated transport system.
In terms of what this has to do with architecture or urban planning, it is about the events that occur that are beyond the control of any planner, as is often the case in British politics, the Labour Party lost the next election to the Conservatives. With such an ambitious social reform and infrastructure programme, more than one term in government is needed to see the economic benefit of the policies being implemented.
The response was to commission a report under the chairmanship of British Railways, Dr. Richard Beeching, a much reviled figure in railway history and largely blamed for the decline of the nation. A scientist and engineer, not a railway operator and assessed the operation of the railways as an accountant, only looking at the income and expenditure over a three year period. The report takes no account of the investment made in the infrastructure, or the investments already committed based on the current network and demand.
The report ‘The Reshaping of Britain’s Railways, recommended the closure of one third of the network simply because it was not profitable. The plan was implemented, and became known as the Beeching Axe, and the effects were devastating. Entire communities were cut off, , freight traffic decreased dramatically, and locomotive fleets that were newly built very quickly became redundant, some steam locomotives only seeing 5 years in service, some diesels only 8. Which when designed for 30 years of service, was bound not to pay for the cost of building them in the first place.
As a result Locomotive works closed, depots, stations, hotels along with the supporting industries, placing countless men and women out of work. Unemployed. Not earning, not paying taxes, not contributing to the economy. The nation started a long cycle of decline. In terms of the urban fabric, railway stations became derelict, the tracks ripped up so the rails could be sold for scrap, dead zones appeared alongside railway cuttings that no longer carried trains, warehouses became disused, whole sections of the built environment suffered from decay. What this process demonstrates is that the social context was not understood by those making the decisions, Beeching,whose plan devastated the infrastructure of a nation and brought with it economic and social deprivation, whose sole purpose was to save money, seemingly unaware of the consequences.
As the journey continues it explores some of these environments from 2015, where after decades of neglect, city centres are seeing a revival, as the strategies that were implemented following the Beeching Plan in some are being reversed at great expense. In urban terms this sequence demonstrates how short term cost cutting can cost far more in the long run and in terms of infrastructure planning, cost cutting is not an option, the investment needs to be made at the appropriate level and to plan for future growth with a degree of flexibility to responds to changing circumstances.
Ongoing work on 'Is Architecture enough?' The follow up to 'Do We Need ARCHITECTS? A Journey Beneath the Surface of Architecture. ' Available on Amazon, Barnes and Noble published by Xlibris.
