By Hook or Crook
In praise of culs-de-sac
The Prince of Wales, we read in the Sunday Times, has declared war on the cul de sac as an "environmental menace that fosters crime, car dependence and obesity." Instead of the cul de sac we are to encourage higher density housing in Victorian-style grids to persuade us to walk to the shops and lose weight. We are even told, though the evidence isn't stated, that we who live in a cul de sac weigh 6lbs more than our luckier neighbours who live on a through road. Well, most of us would go along with many of the Prince's attempts to encourage healthy living and make us more aware of the need to protect our environment but this attack on the cul de sac is surely a step too far.
If John Betjeman never wrote in favour of the cul de sac, this clearly was an oversight on his part since it represents much that is best in the tree-lined suburban England - and particularly Surrey- that Betjeman celebrated in his verse. It has been part of our urban landscape since the Victorian age. It encourages a sense of community since you know your neighbours better and look out for each other. It is largely in the cul de sacs (or, if you are a purist, "culs de sac") in Thames Ditton and Weston Green that street parties flourished, for the Millennium or the Queen's 80th Birthday. They are quieter as there is no through traffic roaring past. Children can play safely, kick footballs and ride their bikes on the street or pavements without parents worrying that they will be run down - although the older generation viewing this activity sometimes forget they were young once!
Surprisingly, cul de sacs consume less land than a grid street pattern and fit in better to awkward parcels of land. Contrary to the Prince's view, they are, according to the crime prevention officer at Thames Valley Police "much safer and less likely to suffer burglary and car crime". The most famous cul de sac in the world is of course Downing Street which is a crime free zone - or is it? You have to be vetted to enter Downing Street but that is perhaps a little over the top for your average cul de sac.
One of the most convincing tests is that buyers will pay more for a house in a cul de sac - but this does not seem to carry much sway with our planners today. Letchworth Garden City in 1903 pioneered the introduction of the cul de sac in town planning, with Hampstead Garden Suburb following soon after and these have always been held up as success stories. Developments such as these are now under threat from the Department of Transport that talks of "loops and lollipops", of "ill-defined spaces" (whatever that means!) and "layouts that make orientation difficult" - do they mean that in a cul de sac we can't find our way home after a good night out?
All this is a part of the attempt by Government planners to tell us how our suburbs must look. Perhaps Betjeman got it right in "The Town Clerk's View":
"All fields we'll turn to sports grounds, lit at nightFrom concrete standards by fluorescent light:And over all the land, instead of trees,Clean poles and wire will whisper in the breeze.We'll keep one ancient village just to showWhat England once was when the times were slow"
Why can't planners just let us keep the variety of street patterns that people want?
Dead End John ! (name & address supplied)
Keith Evetts