What Defines A Place?

The character of a place is defined by a number of factors – economic, demographic, social and environmental. Larger villages, towns and cities have important economic functions within their areas. They may have been important locations of the development of certain industries (such as the Potteries in Stoke on Trent and the shoe industry in Northampton) and many will serve the surrounding rural areas providing an essential market. In fact, the regular weekly market is still integral to the character of many small market towns. Many industries have declined, yet in many cases this industrial heritage still serves to set the character of a place. In fact, many towns and cities have capitalised on this past industrial heritage to regenerate, for example the Jewellery Quarter in Birmingham has seen rapid gentrification in the past few years. However, it is the recognition of the past importance of the shoe industry to the town’s identity that have led to Northampton’s Boot and Shoe Quarter now being saved as a conservation area. Within the conservation area the council have identified a number of areas which impact negatively on the street scene. As these areas are redeveloped sympathetically over the coming years, it is likely that gentrification of some streets will ensue.

Places are dynamic. As they grow and develop distinctive functions they will attract outsiders. People will move in and develop certain skills to support those industries that are thriving. Similarly, periods of decline may result in a population shift away or a change in the socio-economic status of many of its inhabitants. This is especially seen in former mining and quarrying communities in parts of North and South Wales such as Blaenau Ffestiniog and the Rhondda valley which saw significant levels of deprivation and industrial dereliction in the late 1960s and 1970s. Investment from government, the wider European un ion Assisted Area scheme and foreign owned companies such as LG has transformed these areas with growth of new hi-tech industries. No longer is South Wales viewed as an area dominated by collieries and terraced housing, but an extension of the M4 Corridor where communities like Swansea Bay and Llanelli are being transformed.

The way a place may change may reflect the larger scale process of globalisation. Places may have to adapt to survive. The East Midlands town of Northampton has been synonymous with the manufacture of boots and shoes since the middle of the 19^th century. However, it has seen the closure of most of its shoe factories in the face of foreign competition and alternative materials to locally sourced leather. Many shoe manufacturers have chosen to outsource production to countries in the Far East where labour costs are much cheaper. The town’s surviving shoe factories have survived by focusing on a unique, hand-made and bespoke product. A similar picture can be seen in other towns, particularly those built on textiles such as Halifax. Here it has been the switch to hand-made quality garments rather than mass produced items that has allowed some of the traditional industries and characteristic mills to survive.

Whilst Northampton is very much defined by the legacy of its shoe industry, the town’s central location and position at the hub of an efficient transport network with good links north and south via the M1 and M6 and east via the A14, have turned it into an important distribution centre. Not only has this seen the town’s industries diversify, but it has served to attract many outsiders. Whereas the population in the 19^th and early 20^th centuries would have been very working class, a fact demonstrated by the surviving rows of Victorian terraces close to the main factories in areas such as St James, the town’s population now covers a broad range of socio-economic groups from professionals commuting daily to London and Birmingham, accessible within an hour, to those working in sales and marketing in companies that have made Northampton their base. The designation of Northampton as a new town in 1968, saw a significant influx of people moving out of London. Northampton, alongside Milton Keynes and Peterborough, were amongst a second generation of new towns that were designed to relieve some of the housing pressure in parts of London and to offer a means for people to escape the capital and live and work closer to the countryside. Much of the rapid growth that Northampton has seen since this date has focused on the eastern districts of Weston Favell, Rectory Farm and Bellinge with a focus on social housing and smaller starter homes for first time buyers.

In common with many provincial towns, Northampton’s town centre has declined over the past 20 years in the face of continued threats to retail, particularly in an urban environment. The investment in several out of town retail parks such as Riverside and further afield at Rushden Lakes near Wellingborough, has seen a large number of businesses move out of the town centre, although its traditional market square remains. The government has recently invited the town to bid for up to £25 million in its Town Bid Fund. A partnership of the borough council, the university and the towns BID group, is currently working on a Town Investment Plan to identify areas for regeneration which include residential developments in formerly commercial parts of the town. This regeneration scheme follows on the foot of the Northampton Waterside Enterprise Zone. £83 million of public sector money spent on regenerating a large brownfield site adjacent to the river, including the relocation of the university, rebuilding of the town’s railway station and an expansion to the Cosworth engineering plant, now securing motorsport as a new defining feature of Northampton with Mercedes based at Brixworth a few miles to the north and the grand prix site at Silverstone to the south.