Give me but one firm spot on which to stand…
In this week’s blog, Global Centre of Rail Excellence Chief Executive Simon Jones reflects on the relationship between place and economic growth as a new report charting the history of Onllwyn and the Dulais Valley is published
One thing that often gets missed in the debates about our economic future is the role of identity and place.
Much of the narrative that surrounds discussion about the state – and the future – of our economy is shaped by raw numbers or impersonal lines on a graph. GDP, GVA, CPI – the word salad of acronyms and descriptions that chart the health of our economy is often impenetrable.
The data is of course all very important, but at the same time it seems to miss something pretty fundamental – its not the way most of us think about and see the world. When was the last time you discussed the Gini Coefficient down at your local?
Most of us interpret our futures through the prism of our own lives, our own families and the communities we live in. For good or ill we often see the health and wellbeing of the country through how we are doing in our own lives.
That seemingly unrelated thought struck me as I read a recent report from Cardiff University’s School of Architecture. It was commissioned by the Global Centre of Rail Excellence through our site architects 5th Studio and is a deep dive into the industrial history of one of the communities that sits near to the GCRE site – Onllwyn, in the Dulais Valley.
The report is a truly fascinating one.
It paints a rich portrait of a community on the Western edge of the South Wales coalfield and is a vivid description of the way that anthracite fundamentally influenced the valley landscape. Everything from the physical layout of the village itself, to the buildings, the housing and the plethora of social activities that went on there were all profoundly shaped by ‘King Coal’.
The team used archival research and oral interviews to help bring to life some amazing stories of a place that has, in the last forty years, been severely buffeted by the cold winds of deindustrialisation.
The report opens with the words of the authors Professor Juliet Davis and Dr Lui Tam who say that:
‘The purpose of the report is to describe the backstory of a place that is now the focus of a new phase of transformation.’
And its that juxtaposition of Onllwyn’s past with its potential future that is so interesting when you read the report. What we miss in the debates about our economic future are these kinds of textured and layered histories.
Onllwyn has always had a very proud view of its industrial past. Talk to those who have lived in the local area for a period of time and the conversation often pivots itself around to the subject of industry, coal, the local Miners Welfare Hall and the economic and social vibrancy that once hallmarked village life.
In important ways such conversations are not a nostalgic yearning for yesterday – many of those same people recognise very clearly the great danger and peril that often came from the coal industry and wouldn’t want their own grandchildren working at such daily, hourly risk.
But what those conversations often reflect back to you – as does this report – is a sense of pride and, more than that, economic identity. This community; ‘my’ community earned its way in the world through dignified and nationally important work, hard as it was; dangerous as it proved. The very high quality coal produced here played an important part in the national story of Wales, the UK and, indeed, the wider world.
And what strikes you reading the report is that the transformation to come – the area could soon, through the Global Centre of Rail Excellence, become home to Europe’s premier site for rail and energy research, testing and innovation – has an important link with that past.
First, GCRE is a new chapter in the local innovation story. The communities around the GCRE site have been valleys of innovation and high-quality manufacturing for more than two centuries and so GCRE is not a radical rupture with the last two hundred years, but in many ways one fundamentally connected to it.
Second, in hosting GCRE, Onllwyn and the communities around it have the opportunity to identify themselves with a new, nationally significant industry and role. A community that once shaped its surroundings and its own identity off the back of the role it played in the industrial revolution could soon earn its way in the world through the net zero revolution. The communities around GCRE could soon be known around the globe as the place where tomorrow’s rail decarbonisation technologies are developed or where cutting edge green energy innovation takes place.
The new ideas and research that will propel the rail industry to net zero will be ones designed and developed on their doorstep at the Global Centre of Rail Excellence. In the community roadshows we’ve done over the last year it’s something that has come up in conversation with local people time and again – there is something attractive about being associated with an industry that is making a positive contribution to our collective futures.
It’s no exaggeration to say that the last few years have been some of the most disruptive and challenging that we’ve ever known. We’ve lived through a global pandemic; gone through Brexit; seen huge pressures placed on our NHS and public services and with the war in Ukraine, witnessed the world becoming a more unstable and dangerous place. Some of the roots of instability go back much further, to the financial crash of 2008.
Our challenge is to reject the easy answers and solutions and find a way to build a stronger, fairer and greener economy that keeps in mind the important lesson contained in this report – the lesson of place and identity in our future.
Building a modern and successful economic future for ourselves and our families will require a narrative and stories much richer than simply seeing lines on a graph get higher. We will have to re-build places through dignified and good quality work, in turn renewing economic identities so that people and communities feel, once again, that sense of pride and hope in the way they earn their way in the world.
The Global Centre of Rail Excellence coming to Onllwyn and the valley areas nearby is not a silver bullet to the economic challenges they face, but it may well give them, once again, a place to stand.