Washington Tomorrow (1966)

Washington in Tyne and Wear was one of the later new towns, and this breezy little 1966 film shows it being planned and built.

We see the public meetings, the development corporation at work, the sites being cleared and new buildings going up. We see statistics and predictions, maps and charts. Locals wander round exhibitions of maps and models.

All is presented in a jaunty, swift tone, as we gallop from ancient history to the unknowable barrier of the year 2000. Certainly the town never reached its population targets, and its industrial history has been rather chequered. But here we have a capsule of postwar optmism and idealism, surfing a wave of can-do rebuilding and planning.

You can watch the film HERE.