Xanadu (part 2 ) by Simon Armitage- Ashfield VAlley Flats,

BBC Words on film programme featuring poetry by Simon Armitage- influenced by his work on the Ashfield VAlley estate Rochdale
Like many other estates built by local authorities to meet an increased housing demand back in the heady 1960s, the design ethic of Ashfield Valley was heavily influenced by French architect Le Corbusier and his utopian notion of "Streets in the Sky" - where deck access blocks of tenancies, interconnected by walkways would substitute and mimic traditional terraced streets- the idea being that community spirit and identity would be maintained and embraced - an aspect of life that traditional tower blocks were starting to become criticised for lacking; Ashfield Valley was an ambitious project for its time - over 1000 flats divided into 26 alphabetical blocks. It became known locally as "The Valley"
The flats went up . ...unfortunately the facilities and amenities that are essentially required to service the needs of over 1000 tenancies didn't follow and the project rapidly fell in somewhat of a decline - the estate started to become scapegoated by most Rochdalians . The Valley was viewed as a dumping ground This view was strongly reflected in the local media at the time .
The death knell for the Valley was inevitable. Despite some attempts to improve it that were too little too late, a strong community spirit and hints of a distinct counterculture developing -the bulldozers moved in essentially it had become Rochdale's ghetto and to most people who'd probabley never ever been to the place, a symbol of the failings of post war governments
The 3 smallest blocks of the Valley (J,K and L) remain - they have been renamed
I never actually lived on the Valley (ironically the council refused me a transfer there!) but spent at lot of time in the flats in the years towards its demise - its clear from its FaceBook page that despite its many problems a great number of people enjoyed their life on the Valley and look back on it with fond memories

[@lisafehily8050]

I would love to live der

[@MrBallie66]

Hey that's Nigel with the plants.