Kevin McCloud and The Big Town Plan 
Monday nights until 1st September 10pm Channel 4
 

Kevin McCloud, the guru of all things architectural and Grand Designs is presenting a new Channel 4 series based on Castleford, a dying town in Yorkshire, situated 12 miles outside of Leeds.  The aim of the project is quite simple, 11 initiatives aimed at regenerating the town, improving the economy and pulling in outside visitors as well as encouraging people to settle permanently.  
 
This week it was a bridge for the bargain price of 4.8 million (I can now officially label myself a super sleuth, having been told by the programme it was 3.2 million I had a sneaky look at the website).  Call me a cynic but if you chuck a load of money, stick a camera crew and a load of professionals at the top of their game as well as passionate local residents in the mix and the odds seem pretty well stacked in your favour to succeed.  And if you don’t, well frankly you’re a bunch of morons.  

 

So yes if this series presents a failure I will be exceedingly surprised and yes I think the whole thing is a publicity stunt for Channel 4 but hey, I was the one welling up when the bridge was complete and the old girl who had worked for years on it was brought to tears by the achievement of it all. 

Roll on the next one I say, and let’s make everyone feel all warm and fuzzy inside but let’s not think that this programme is primarily about design.  The amount of money invested in Castleford is significant and cannot hope to be repeated in many other places, especially without the publicity.  What is important is the community and the way in which pride in our surroundings can encourage action and promote community spirit. And call me a raving hippy idealistic socialist with no grounding in reality but that is worth one bridge going 28x over the original budget.  

This was a Geek Club Communication