The great housing boom transforms the landscape

1970-1985

The 1970s and early 1980s were the peak years of development in Locks Heath, when large housing estates were built across the former strawberry fields at a pace that transformed the landscape within a single generation. Housebuilders acquired land, obtained planning permission and constructed the semi-detached and detached family houses that make up the bulk of the village today. Schools, shops and community facilities followed the housing, and the population grew from a few hundred to several thousand within two decades. The speed of the transformation was remarkable: fields that were cultivated in 1970 were fully built-up residential streets by 1980. By the mid-1980s, the developable land was largely exhausted and the village had acquired the shape and character it retains today.