Northville was developed by the Cwmbran Development Corporation as a defined residential area within the Pontnewydd neighbourhood situated immediately to the north of the Town Centre. The 71-acre site was designed to be distinctly different from previous housing estates, providing a higher-density, more ‘urban’ backdrop to the Town Centre.

Planned from early 1953, when the land was purchased for £12,000, the area was to provide 450 corporation houses with a further 150 flats and maisonettes. With all houses in long terraces, a higher density of 17 houses to the acre could be achieved. The dwellings focused on a series or a mix of two-, three- and four-storey buildings laid out among a series of small enclosed courts and squares and pedestrian ways, with a main north-south way linking directly to the Town Centre via an underpass. The combination of two- to four-storey dwellings was seen as providing both architectural variety and creating a visual link between the Town Centre and more suburban neighbourhoods. While the open spaces were much smaller, great consideration was given to paving to create play areas and a dense and varied planting scheme within the public forecourts, the responsibility for which as public spaces was retained by CDC. The scheme of enclosing these, together with the expansive planting schemes agreed in 1956, cost some £20 per house.The scheme was completed by 1960.

S Fielding May 2021

ref: Cwmbran New Town: An urban characterisation study