Betjeman on the town centre redevelopment

From "Inexpensive Progress"

"Let no provincial High Street
Which might be your or my street
Look as it used to do,
But let the chain stores place here
Their miles of black glass facia
And traffic thunder through."

It's clear from reading some of Betjeman's work that he would rather we had no progress at all. I'm not to this extreme - but just think we should have progress at an acceptable cost. Too often there's a desire to have progress at any cost - something that's hinted at in the ironic title of this poem.

Macclesfield Town Centre definitely needs a boost - I don't argue with that. But every time I look at the elevation of the new development my eye is drawn to the large, square extension above the flashy ground floor that looks an awful lot to me like a large, concrete, car park.

Who knows. Perhaps the building will look delightful and be a beacon of architectural success in the modern age. But I bet it wont.

There are better ways to rejuvenate the town than this. We are situated on the west coast main line, at the foot of the peaks, and at the start of one of the most (in)famous roads in the country. We are in a perfect position to use tourism to generate wealth and prosperity in Macclesfield.

But we can't do that if we destroy our market town heritage in the name of "progress".