MEMORY MONDAY
It is always interesting to read how previous generations envisaged the future. Have their predictions come true? What would they make of the future they imagined?
Today’s Memory Monday invites you to make your mind up about the speculation surrounding the acquisition of part of the Stoneleigh Estate in 1926 and its likely impact on Westwood Heath. Let us know what you think in the comments!
The newspaper article was accompanied by a diagram illustrating the plans for different areas. Although it is not very clear, it is possible to make out the different areas. The article included the following notes, which hopefully will help you make sense of the image:
“The map produced below clearly outlines the Stoneleigh Estate. The industrial area in the centre is shown in thick lines, while the fan-shaped area below it will form the area of the “Satellite Community” at Westwood Heath. The areas shaded with thin lines will be residential, and the dotted portions represent preserved woodlands and open spaces.”
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Extracts from The Midland Daily Telegraph, August 12th 1926
“A new Coventry has appeared in embryo form amid the broad acres which represent the huge purchase of the Stoneleigh Estate from Lord Leigh. At the moment the new city cannot be seen in the guise of bricks and mortar, but it has come into being in the form of carefully conceived plans, which show large residential areas situated amid pleasant rolling pastures and woodlands, dotted here and there with large areas which will be preserved in their natural beauty…A delightfully conceived autonomous township may eventually spring up, allied to Coventry but with its own civic centre, and new railway station. The scheme of development, which was approved by the City Council last week, may appear somewhat idealistic and even remote from realisation at the moment. That it is a splendidly-conceived town-planning scheme is beyond question.
As is well known to most local people, the large tract of land which the Council purchased from Lord Leigh is situated to the west and south-west of the city. Its westerly limit is Tile Hill, it is bounded on the north by Broad Lane and on the south by Westwood Heath. The total of 2,334 acres were purchased at what was doubtless the bargain price of £110,000 (approximately) and hundreds of people were asking, “What are the Corporation going to do with it now that they have got it?”
Utilising the Estate
"…By making themselves complete owners of practically all the land on two sides of Coventry, the Council is able to devise the exact lines upon which Coventry’s development shall take place. It is a planning which every thinking citizen will support, for only by such steps and by scientifically designed town planning schemes can Coventry be saved from a repetition of the sorry mess which our forefathers made of the city’s earlier development plans.
The real point of the scheme of development is to divide the estate into areas or zones in which certain types of buildings will be erected. It is obviously essential, with an estate of this kind, that the uses to which various parts of the land will be put, the number of houses per acre, the class of the houses, the character of the buildings, the positions where shops will be allowed or not allowed, the industrial areas, small business sites, park lands, playing spaces, etc. should be predetermined by the Council before any of the land is sold. Otherwise a disordered profusion of houses, buildings, and factories must ensue over all parts of the estate.
In this manner town planning provides for the preservation of existing amenities, and gives a feeling of security to prospective purchasers, who are naturally desirous to ensure that if they build a good class residence they will not have a gas works or a soap factory as a “neighbour”. Such beautiful spots as those between the Finham brook and the Kenilworth Road should obviously be preserved from the industrial encroachments, and from the erection of any class of buildings which are not in sympathy with the character of the landscape."
Preserving Park Lands
Very careful consideration has been given to the question of the preservation of park lands and open spaces, with which the estate is so liberally endowed. ...In addition to preserving most of the existing woodlands, to which the public will have the right of entry for the first time in many instances, generous allowance has been made for playing fields and also allotments…
The Corporation now finds itself possessed of almost unlimited building land at a very low figure, much of which is situated in convenient proximity to the City. The advent of the motor cycle, motor ‘buses, and even pedal cycles has brought it so near to the city in terms of minutes of travel that the distance separating most of it is negligible. This particularly applies to that part of the estate in the neighbourhood of Canley Gates, which appears almost certainly destined for Corporation housing schemes of the future.
While immediate development is looked for…it must be obvious that the scheme cannot reach fruition for a number of years – probably not in the life-time of many of the originators of the scheme. It is well known that in the near future the city will have to provide a new cemetery and a site for this purpose will no doubt be found within the Stoneleigh estate…
The term “Satellite Community” in connection with the scheme has aroused some amusing commentaries and not a little doubt…in connection with the Coventry scheme it refers to quite a charming feature. Readers will observe an area shaded with fan shaped lines and situated between Westwood Heath and the Coventry-Birmingham railway line. It is intended that here should be raised one of a number of garden colonies around Coventry, possibly each with its own small industrial area adjacent, its own shopping and civic centre. It would be satellite to but more or less independent of Coventry, but linked socially to the city and its neighbours.
For such a purpose Westwood is admirably adapted; situated on high land, it is healthy, and can be made easily accessible by road and rail, besides having a naturally beautiful setting in which its ultimate purpose of producing a garden colony can be attained.
As time progresses the estate will doubtless be found to possess almost unlimited scope for the solution of new problems which must arise as a result of industrial and populative expansion.”
As always, please get in touch with your comments, questions and suggestions. We would love to hear from you if you have any old photos or recollections of the area. You can comment below or email me at westwoodheathhistory@gmail.com