Inside 'Disneyland-like' town built by Prince Charles - with compulsory bird boxes
29.04.2022 - 11:57
/ ok.co.uk
Poundbury is, literally, The Town That Prince Charles Built. A new development, the first foundations of which were set down in 1993, it is HRH’s vision for a better Britain. His aim was to create a community rather than a housing estate, somewhere providing a job for everyone and, with his eco-goals in mind, where walking is more important than driving.
After all, Charles has long been vocal over his dislike for new-build estates on the urban fringes, which require a car to pop to the shop for a loaf of bread.The heir to the throne was hell-bent on building his own town against all the odds. “Everybody was against it, I was told it was totally uneconomic. But I’ve gone on regardless of the endless criticism because I believed in it for the long term,” said Charles.
He never let the fact it’s been referred to as Dorset’s Disneyland, and, as one local said, “a bit of a Marmite place” get in his way. And it has paid off massively. Situated just west of Dorchester, Poundbury is built on land owned by the Duchy of Cornwall, a huge investment vehicle to provide a (very hefty) income for the Duke and Duchess of Cornwall, as well as the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, and the Sussexes.
Accounts show Harry and Meghan still received funds from it in 2021, despite stepping down as front-line royals. In fact, it has been producing a revenue for holders of the Princes of Wales title going back 700 years and owns farmland double the size of Greater London – most of it across the south west of England, including a whopping 70,000 acres of Dartmoor National Park. Secrets Of The Royal Residences This special collector's edition of OK! looks inside the hidden tunnels at Buckingham Palace, the spectacular gardens at Highgrove, the
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