Thinking about the earlier rant about all the toytown houses that spring up everywhere… Last week saw a lot of news coverage given over to “clone Britain”, referring to how all high streets look the same as they all have branches of the same chainstores in them. It occurred to me that the increased similarity of towns extends well beyond the high streets.

Why are there no concerns about that? On one of the planning summer schools I went to, there was a talk by someone from Chester City Council about ‘local distinctiveness as an economic driver’. He was lucky to be in a place that has some local distinctiveness. These days the only thing to distinguish a street in most towns from a street in another is the colour of the wheelie bins and recycling boxes.

It seems that what small bits of local distinctiveness remain are gradually getting removed. Its not just shops and houses: bus shelters and other street furniture come out of a catalogue and the office blocks in one town look the same as in the others. I remember as a child going to Southend quite often. I always knew I was in Southend because their street signs were all on poles with a pointy bit on top. (That may not be the correct technical term) I would not be surprised to find that the old wooden pointy street names have been replaced with generic reflective ones now.

Have I passed the audition for TV’s Grumpy Old Men yet?