Skem’s famous roundabouts are only part of the story. They reveal how an entire town was deliberately redesigned for a new generation.
“Skem’s roundabouts were designed that way.”
Skelmersdale’s roundabouts are more than a running joke. They are a visible reminder of the way the town was deliberately redesigned in the 1960s.
Skelmersdale was designated a New Town in 1961, created to accommodate families moving from the Liverpool area. The planners were not simply adding houses to the old mining town. They were creating an entirely new road system around the needs they believed a modern community would have.
That meant giving cars room to move while keeping pedestrians away from busy roads. Roundabouts replaced many conventional junctions, while footpaths and underpasses created separate pedestrian routes.
The town’s road layout reflected the modernist planning ideas of the period, with planners prioritising mobility, green space and a very different way of moving around.
Decades later, the result is unmistakably Skem. The roundabouts may occasionally confuse visitors, but they are part of a much bigger story: a town designed during an era when planners believed they could completely rethink how people lived, travelled and connected.
SKEM BY DESIGN
Skelmersdale’s road network was part of a much wider experiment in post-war town planning.
New Towns were intended to relieve overcrowding in major cities and give families access to newer homes, green space and employment.
In Skem, planners separated pedestrians from traffic wherever possible. That is why so many estates are connected by footpaths, bridges and underpasses rather than traditional pavements running alongside busy main roads.
The layout is often associated with the Radburn style of planning, where homes and pedestrian spaces are deliberately designed away from through-traffic.
It can feel unusual today, but at the time these ideas were seen as modern and forward-thinking.
Skelmersdale was not designed accidentally. Its roads, estates, walkways and roundabouts were all part of an ambitious attempt to build a completely different kind of town.
FIND OUT MORE
Fancy going further down the Skem history rabbit hole?
Try searching for:
Skelmersdale New Town 1961
Skelmersdale Development Corporation
Hugh Wilson Skelmersdale
Radburn planning Skelmersdale
Skelmersdale Heritage Society
Old photographs, planning documents and archive material show just how dramatically Skelmersdale changed when the New Town was created.