8

THE NEW TOWNS

social questions; it has, incidentally, already raised problems for the educaional
 authorities dealing with New Towns. The proportion of young married
couples and of children of school age is far above the national average. We
know that in the country as a whole there is a ‘ bulge’ in school population.
In the New Towns, this is even more marked. Take, for example, this
breakdown of the age-structure of the newcomers to Crawlev:—

Age
0— 9
10—14
15—19
20—44
45 and over

Crawley
Perc -ntaoes

Br
5¢
C

J

National
Percentages

|&amp;

6.6
6.4
35.4
15 6

Thus, if this is a fair sample, about ninety per cent. of the new populaion
 is under 45 years of age; more than half is under 35; and one-third is
of school age. For purposes of comparison, the equivalent national agestructure
 is shown in the last column.

School Population © bulge’
These figures alone suggest the kinds of problem that have to be faced.
Many new schools are needed in any case to meet the needs of New Towns:
should there be sufficient to cope with the enormous ‘ buige’ of the next
fifteen to twenty years, or should the school accommodation be designed
for ‘normal’ purposes, which would mean serious overcrowding in the
critical years? And what is the ‘ normal * population expected to be? How
long will it take for New Towns to even out the distortions in their agestructure?
 Should there be special types of school building, some of it of
an emergency type, and can the schools be so designed that their function
can be changed over the years? The early need is for enough primary
schools. but later the * bulge’ will reach the secondary and technical level.
Education, moreover, is only part of the population problem. Should
special plans be made now to ensure that there are enough openings for
young workers as the ‘bulge’ reaches school-leaving age? And how can
sufficient openings be created without having a great many blind-alley jobs,
or forcing the young people to leave the district to work? Again, what is
to be done to provide houses for the abnormally large number of young
people who will reach marrying age within ten or fifteen years? By that
time their parents will still have many years of working life and then retirement
 before them; there will be far fewer houses falling vacant than is
normally the case, because for a long time the death rate will be well below
the national average. And what opportunities will there be, either for work
or social relaxation, for the large group of married women, still relatively
young, who will be released from much of their household burden as the
children grow up?