A record of the urban redevelopment of Blandford Street West in Newcastle, commissioned by Newcastle City Council Planning Department in 1963. Vehicles are parked either side of Blandford Street. Cars are parked in an off-road area of wasteland created through the demolishing of housing. Piles of brick rubble are visible in the background, and partly demolished Victorian terraced housing borders the site. There is a shot of the Blenheim Filling Station, Irvine Motors NC Ltd, located at an...

A record of the urban redevelopment of Blandford Street West in Newcastle, commissioned by Newcastle City Council Planning Department in 1963. Vehicles are parked either side of Blandford Street. Cars are parked in an off-road area of wasteland created through the demolishing of housing. Piles of brick rubble are visible in the background, and partly demolished Victorian terraced housing borders the site. There is a shot of the Blenheim Filling Station, Irvine Motors NC Ltd, located at an old building on a corner of Blandford Street. The camera pans left along the cobbled road. Some Victorian buildings still remain at the edge of the redevelopment site. Various shots illustrate the use of all available space in the area to park cars. There is a view across a cobbled road towards a cleared site with heaps of brick rubble, and a modern 1960s low four-storey car park. Various cars are parked on waste ground bordered by soot-blackened Victorian housing and other buildings. Cars line traditional streets in the area. Footage of a construction site follows. A crane hoists earth from a hole at a redevelopment site off Blandford Street. A dumper truck drives from a cement mixer to the crane and borer equipment. Men guide the machinery used to dig foundation holes. Remnants of terraced houses border the site. The blackened tower of a church and three high rise tower blocks, which may be Todd’s Nook, Vallum Court, and Westgate Court on Westgate Hill, stand in the background. Signs warn of demolition in progress and road works at the site, looking towards Westgate Hill and the tower blocks. The camera pans again to the crane on site. A worker climbs down a ladder into a foundation hole where several other workers are standing. He then climbs out again. [Note: During the 1960s many parts of Newcastle were designated Comprehensive Development Areas (CDAs). T. Dan Smith, City Councillor 1950-1965, and William Burns, Chief Planning Officer, initiated a modernisation programme with widespread demolition of Victorian and Georgian parts of the city and construction of new urban motorways, parking facilities, commercial buildings and housing.]