Catalogue of the Records of the Cwmbran Development Corporation

Cwmbran Development Corporation general manager and managing director minutes, 1949-1987; committee minutes, 1953-1987; registers and books, 1951-1984; general reports, 1951-1988; annual reports, 1950-1987; correspondence and miscellaneous, 1949-1988; maps and plans; title deeds, 1951-1975; technical officers general reports, 1970-1985; correspondence and miscellaneous relating to Court Road Industrial Estate, phase 3, 1980-1990; Ordnance Survey maps; Planning officers correspondence and miscellaneous, 1951-1986; Estate officers correspondence and miscellaneous, 1871-1985

Cwmbran is a town located in South East Wales. It was designated as the eleventh New Town in England and Wales under the New Towns Act 1946 and it the first and only New Town designated in Wales. The Town was intended primarily to provide homes near work for those employed in the area and providing social and commercial facilities to preserve open spaces, aiming for a balanced and self-contained community. In 1949 the Cwmbran Development Corporation was established to oversee the building a whole 'new town', and construction began in 1951. The Corporation had the responsibility for acquiring most of the freehold of the designated area and to carry out or closely control all building work. With the depression of the late 1970s Cwmbran Development Corporation changed its focus on development from housing to industry. The Cwmbran Development Corporation ended its responsibilities with the transfer of property and dissolution order 1988, with Torfaen County Borough Council taking responsibility for Cwmbran New Town and the eastern valley.

Arranged into the following: general manager and managing director; finance officers; technical officers; planning officers; estate officers

Restricted access. Records less than 30 years old are closed, and may only be seen by specific permission of the Commission for the New Towns.

Compiled by Seri Crawley for the ANW project. The following sources were used in the compilation of this description: Gwent Record Office, Catalogue of the Records of the Cwmbran Development Corporation; Riden, Philip Rebuilding a Valley: a History of Cwmbran Development Corporation, (Cwmbran, 1988); Cwmbran Newtown History (http://www.virtualcwmbran.com/cwm_history.htm) viewed 18 August 2005.

Hard copies of the catalogue are available at Gwent Record Office and the National Library of Wales.

Usual copyright laws apply.

All records deposited have been retained

Accruals are not expected.

Riden, Philip Rebuilding a Valley: a History of Cwmbran Development Corporation, (Cwmbran, 1988)