This film is part of Free

Midlands News: 20.02.1963: Redditch Vox Pops

A cinema? Football? A swimming pool? What does Redditch need as it stands on the brink of a life changing new town development?

News 1963 2 mins

From the collection of:

Logo for Media Archive for Central England

Overview

Redditch was not designated a new town officially until April 1964. More than a year earlier Tim Downes visited the town for Midlands News to gauge opinion on the proposal to greatly enlarge what had been a small industrial town to house families moving from nearby Birmingham.

During the development of Redditch as a new town the population grew from 30,000 to 70,000.