Sunday, May 05, 2019

NEW BRIGG ALLOTMENTS WILL MEAN THE WHEEL TURNING FULL CIRCLE


A picture montage showing Brigg prefabs circa 1957/8


The wheel will have turned full circle in Brigg if proposals to establish new allotments on part of what's now Woodbine Park get the go ahead from council planners.
For when prefabs covered the site, most tenants grew vegetables in their neat back and side gardens, as well as tending grass and flower borders at the front.
There was an extensive estate of post-war prefab bungalows, of which nothing now remains apart from the original entry point off Preston Drive.
Rows of them extended all the way to the border with the Recreation Ground - alongside the 'No Cycling' footway leading from South View Avenue to East Parade.
Woodbine Grove estate, operated by Brigg Urban District Council, had a road running right down the middle, with side footpaths leading to groups of bungalows
These rare pictures show life inside and outside two-bedroom prefab No 16 Woodbine Grove in 1957/58. 

The last bungalows on the estate were demolished early in the 1970s.
In many ways they were modern, boasting a fitted kitchen with fridge and having a bathroom and inside toilet.
However, the estate had only limited life; prefabs - cheap to make and requiring little time to erect on-site - went up all over Britain to meet a post-war housing crisis.
These Brigg Blog family archive pictures are rare; we haven't seen any others taken inside Woodbine Grove prefabs. We think they make a nice montage.
But if you have any more showing prefab life in the 1950s and 1960s, we'd love to feature them.
Although some older folk lived in the Woodbine Grove prefabs, they were mostly occupied by families with young children.
As there were only two bedrooms, this often meant growing families soon moved on to larger brick-built council houses elsewhere, particularly on the nearby Springbank estate.
The new allotments on Woodbine Park are designed to replace the current plots on Grammar School Road - the route earmarked for a proposed new road.
Brigg had another estate of post-war prefabs - Ancholme Gardens, off Elwes Street - now long gone.
Brigg Town Council, which today operates the plots on Redcombe Lane/Atherton Way and Grammar School Road, received a brief update on allotments at its latest meeting on Monday, April 29.
However, there was nothing to report about the new plots proposed for Woodbine Park.
In February an application was lodged by North Lincolnshire Council's asset and estate management section, seeking planning permission to change the use of land to allotments, including the erection of fencing and timber sheds.
Public consultation concluded on March 20, but no decision has yet been announced by North Lincolnshire Council planners.
Six members of the public lodged objections or voiced reservations with the council over the siting of allotments on Woodbine Park.
Factors mentioned included reduced play area available to children, parking/congestion near the entrance off Preston Drive, and loss of habit for wildlife.