What was Britain's first designated New Town, established by the New Towns Act 1945?
"town construction”. These innovative Acts resulted in a total of 28 New Towns being constructed in Britain over the following half-century It was in 1946 that the hard work of the ‘New Townsmen’ finally paid off with the passing of the New Towns Act 1946. Swayed by the need for post-war reconstruction, more housing, and a call to halt any further expansion of London’s girth, authorities saw that there was no alternative to the New Town solution. In total, 27 New Towns were built after 1946. These were: Stevenage, Crawley, Hemel Hempstead, Harlow, Hatfield, Basildon, Bracknell and Milton Keynes outside"
"major conurbations including Manchester and Birmingham. The 1945 Attlee Government set up a New Towns Commission to formally consider how best to repair and rebuild urban communities ravaged in World War II. In 1945 Lord Reith of Stonehaven was appointed as chair of the New Towns Commission. The commission concluded that there was a need to construct new towns using the instrument of development corporations supported by central government. The New Towns Act 1946 cemented this vision in 1946 and New Towns were born. The 1946 Act was extensively revised in 1965 and 1981. The Reith Commission recommended that: The"
"from the act: Overall about 2 million people are housed in the New Towns in about 500,000 homes. New Towns Act 1946 The New Towns Act 1946 (9 & 10 Geo. VI c. 68) was an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom which allowed the government to designate areas as new towns, and passing development control functions to a Development Corporation. Several new towns were created in the years following its passing. The Act was replaced by the New Towns Act 1965 and, later, the New Towns Act 1981. The 1944 Abercrombie Plan for London proposed eight new"
"New Towns Act 1946 The New Towns Act 1946 (9 & 10 Geo. VI c. 68) was an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom which allowed the government to designate areas as new towns, and passing development control functions to a Development Corporation. Several new towns were created in the years following its passing. The Act was replaced by the New Towns Act 1965 and, later, the New Towns Act 1981. The 1944 Abercrombie Plan for London proposed eight new towns within of London for up to 500,000 people from inner London. Similar recommendations were made for other"
"in the area and by its development, petitioned the Government to create a New Town. Basildon was one of eight 'New Towns' created in the South East of England after the passing of the New Towns Act. On 4 January 1949 Lewis Silkin, Minister of Town and Country Planning, officially designated Basildon as a 'New Town'. Basildon Development Corporation was formed in February 1949 to transform the designated area into a modern new town. The New Town incorporated Laindon and Pitsea and was laid out around small neighbourhoods with the first house being completed in June 1951. The first tenants"
"a New Town on 9 January 1947 by Lewis Silkin, the Minister of Town and Country Planning in Clement Attlee's postwar Labour Government. The plans included increasing the population of about 9,500 to 50,000 by 1963 by building a series of residential neighbourhoods around an expanded town centre. By 1960, this target population had been exceeded, and plans were underway for further expansion. The friary church was not large enough to cater for the increased number of worshippers, and some structural problems were discovered. Local ecclesiastical architect Harry Stuart Goodhart-Rendel was commissioned to design a new church. On 14 June"
"the Abercrombie Plan called for the establishment of a ring of new towns around London. On 1 August 1946, Stevenage was designated the first New Town under the New Towns Act. The plan was not popular and local people protested at a meeting held in the town hall before Lewis Silkin, minister in the Labour Government of Clement Attlee. As Lewis Silkin arrived at the railway station for this meeting, some local people had changed the signs 'Stevenage' to 'Silkingrad'. Silkin was obstinate at the meeting, telling a crowd of 3,000 people outside the town hall (around half the town's"
"of room for expansion—were proposed. The Ministry of Town and Country Planning's southeast office reported that the Crawley area had suffered haphazard, poorly planned development since the estates were divided up and sold off in the early 20th century, and would therefore be an appropriate candidate for properly planned high-density development. Rapid progress was made: the decision to designate Crawley as a New Town (Britain's second) was made public on 12 July 1946, a preliminary planning committee was set up in September of that year, the New Towns Act 1946 was passed shortly afterwards to give the government authority to"
"known as New Town. Problems arose soon after its incorporation into Coventry when the River Sherbourne, which separated the two areas, began to flood as a result of two mills. These two mills were finally removed in 1844 by an Act of Parliament. Once the two mills were removed, New Town could develop and connect to Coventry. The Health of Towns Act 1848 resulted in the establishment of a Local Board of Health in 1849 who then surveyed the city in 1850. A result of the survey was new building guidelines for the city. As much of the city had"
"were designated as New Towns under the 1946 Act, and were developed partly to house the large numbers of people whose homes had been destroyed by bombing during the war and partly to move parts of the population out of (mainly Victorian) urban slums. New Towns policy was also informed by a series of wartime commissions, including: Also crucial to thinking was the Abercrombie Plan for London (1944), which envisaged moving a million and a half people from London to new and expanded towns. (A similar plan was developed for the Clyde Valley in 1946 to combat similar problems faced"
"13 residential neighbourhoods individually. Services were prioritised early in the development process: the New Town was designated in January 1947, and by 1949 the Development Corporation had surveyed the designated area, planned and designed the required infrastructure and negotiated some contracts for their construction. Because work focused on the provision of services at first, housebuilding in the new town was slow in the first few years. An important feature of the master plan was the laying of sewer and utility pipes under grass verges rather than beneath roads, as was conventional in Britain; this made them more accessible and reduced"
"Stevenage Stevenage ( ) is a town and borough in Hertfordshire, England. Roughly 28 miles (44 km) north of central London as the crow flies, Stevenage is situated to the east of junctions 7 and 8 of the A1(M), and is between Letchworth Garden City to the north, and Welwyn Garden City to the south. On 1 August 1946, Stevenage was designated the United Kingdom's first New Town under the New Towns Act. Stevenage may derive from Old English ""stiþen āc"" / ""stiðen āc"" / ""stithen ac"" (various Old English dialects cited here) meaning '(place at) the stiff oak'. The"
"officially became a New Town on 4 February 1947. The initial plans for the New Town were drawn up by architect Geoffrey Jellicoe. His view of Hemel Hempstead, he said, was ""not a city in a garden, but a city in a park."" However, the plans were not well received by most locals. Revised, and less radical plans were drawn up, and the first developments proceeded despite local protests in July 1948. The first area to be developed was Adeyfield. At this time the plans for a revolutionary double roundabout at Moor End were first put forward, but in fact"
"local authorities and, in England, the Commission for New Towns (later English Partnerships). The first wave was intended to help alleviate the housing shortages following the Second World War, beyond the green belt around London. A couple of sites in County Durham were also designated. These designations were made under the New Towns Act 1946. The second wave (1961–64) was likewise initiated to alleviate housing shortfalls. Two of the locations below (Redditch and Dawley New Town — later renamed Telford) are situated near the West Midlands conurbation; another two (Runcorn and Skelmersdale) are near Merseyside and were intended as overspill"
"UK was undoubtedly the Edinburgh New Town, built in accordance with a 1766 master plan by James Craig, and (along with Bath and Dublin) the archetype of the elegant Georgian style of British architecture. The term ""new town"" often refers in the UK to towns built after World War II under the New Towns Act 1946. These were influenced by the garden city movement, launched around 1900 by Ebenezer Howard and Sir Patrick Geddes and the work of Raymond Unwin, and manifested at Letchworth Garden City and Welwyn Garden City in Hertfordshire. Following World War II, some 28 projected towns"
"Moreover, the Greater London Plan of 1944 went further by suggesting that over one million people would need to be displaced into a mixture of satellite suburbs, existing rural towns, and new towns. In 1945 the New Towns Committee was formed to consider the “establishment, development, organisation, and administration” of new towns. Within eight months the committee had completed a highly comprehensive study into these issues resulting in positive recommendations for the construction of new towns. Accordingly, the New Towns Act 1946 was passed which, coupled with the Town and Country Planning Act 1947, created a revolutionary “machinery for positive"
"New towns in the United Kingdom The new towns in the United Kingdom were planned under the powers of the New Towns Act 1946 and later acts to relocate populations in poor or bombed-out housing following the Second World War. They were developed in three waves. Later developments included the expanded towns: existing towns which were substantially expanded to accommodate what was called the ""overspill"" population from densely populated areas of deprivation. Designated new towns were removed from local authority control and placed under the supervision of a development corporation. These corporations were later disbanded and their assets split between"
"Basildon Town Centre Basildon Town Centre in Basildon, Essex, is a planned town centre developed during the town's creation in the 1950s. The architect Sir Basil Spence worked on its design. Basildon was one of England's first post WW2 new towns: it was officially named a new town in 1949, under the New Towns Act, with the first house constructed in 1951. A large illuminated sign stood next to the railway line stating ""This is the site of Basildon Town Centre"" from 1956, with the first shops in Basildon Town Centre opening to the public in 1958. Initially only the"
"London; Newton Aycliffe, Peterlee and Washington in the North East; Skelmersdale and Runcorn in the North West; Corby, Telford and Redditch in the Midlands; Cwmbran and Newtown in Wales; and in Scotland, East Kilbride, Glenrothes, Cumbernauld, Livingston and Irvine. Towns that were expanded under the new towns act were Peterborough, Northampton, Warrington, Ipswich and Preston-Leyland-Chorley. There were similar problems for New Towns advocates in other areas of the world. In Hong Kong, the new towns were developed as an initiative from the British colonial government. In other areas although they understood the concept and approved in large numbers, planners had"
"Old Harlow, is Grade I listed and is a scheduled ancient monument. The original Harlow New Town was built after World War II to ease overcrowding in London and the surrounding areas due to the devastation caused by the bombing during the Blitz. Harlow was a Mark One New Town along with other new towns such as Basildon, Stevenage and Hemel Hempstead. New Towns were designated following the New Towns Act of 1946, with the master plan for Harlow drawn up in 1947 by Sir Frederick Gibberd. The town was planned from the outset and was designed to respect the"
"1949 and is still expanding. Other London new towns from this era include Harlow in Essex and Crawley in West Sussex. Later a scatter of ""second-generation"" towns were built to meet specific problems, such as the development of the Corby Steelworks. Finally, five ""third-generation"" towns were launched in the late 1960s: these were larger, some of them based on substantial existing settlements such as Peterborough, and the most famous was probably Milton Keynes, midway between London and Birmingham, known for its huge central park and shopping centre, designed from the outset as a new city – though in law it"
"new town of five. The others were East Kilbride, Glenrothes, Cumbernauld and Irvine. Livingston was designated as a New Town on 16 April 1962. The first people moved into Livingston in April 1966. Three villages (Livingston Village and Livingston Station in the old parish of Livingston and Bellsquarry in the parish of Mid Calder) and numerous farmsteads remain islands of old buildings within the new developments. In 1984 Livingston gained its first railway station on the Shotts Line called Livingston South which was followed by Livingston North on the Edinburgh to Bathgate Line in 1986. These stations replaced the former"
"1930s after which housing appeared at each end of Bridgewater Road. Meanwhile, over the last century, many of the old industrial firms in Berkhamsted closed, while the numbers of commuters increased. After the Second World War, in July 1946, the nearby town of Hemel Hempstead was designated a New Town under the New Towns Act (""New Towns"" were satellite urban developments around London to relieve London's population growth and housing issues after the blitz). February 1947 the Government purchased of land and began construction, which led Hemel Hempstead's population to increased from 20,000 to today over 90,000, making it today"
"and 2,000 incendiary bombs. The attack which caused the greatest loss of life happened on 10 July 1944, when Southgate's Victorian streets were hit by two V-1 flying bombs. One landed in Malthouse Road and did not detonate, but another destroyed 15 houses, killed seven people and injured 44 more when it exploded at the junction of Oak Road and West Street. Crawley was designated as a New Town in January 1947 after the New Towns Act 1946 identified it as a suitable site for one. A Development Corporation was formed, led by the architect Thomas Bennett, and planner Anthony"
"(1941) specified more details about how such towns should develop; and the Uthwatt Committee (1942) discussed how land and buildings could be compulsorily purchased. Patrick Abercrombie's Greater London Plan of 1944 proposed taking 1 million residents out of London. One third were to be rehoused in ten new towns in a ring about from the city. In 1945, Lord Reith and his committee described how these towns would be developed: they were intended to be ""self-contained and balanced communities for work and living"". Following the passing of the New Towns Act 1946 in April of that year, sites had to"
"be found: two locations south of London (Crowhurst and Holmwood, both in Surrey) were rejected, and the Minister of Town and Country Planning Lewis Silkin selected Crawley as the site for a ""twin-centred town [... with] an eventual population of 30,000 to 40,000"". On 10 July 1946, Silkin met officers from the various local authorities that governed the Crawley area. He explained his choice of Crawley as a New Town; no objections were raised in the meeting, but the mood from some groups and members of the public was less enthusiastic and a public inquiry had to be held. The"
"Ealing and the chapelry of New Brentford in Hanwell to the west. Of the two areas, Old Brentford was significantly larger. New Brentford was first described as the county town of Middlesex in 1789, on the basis that it was the location of elections of knights for the shire (or Members of Parliament) from 1701. In 1795 New Brentford (as it was then) was """"considered as the county-town; but there is no town-hall or other public building"""" causing confusion that remains to this day. The borough of Hounslow was formed in 1965, under the London Government Act 1963, by the"
"town, a new city, encompassing the existing towns of Bletchley, Stony Stratford and Wolverton. The New Town (informally and in planning documents, ""New City"") was to be the biggest yet, with a target population of 250,000, in a ""designated area"" of . The name ""Milton Keynes"" was taken from the existing village of Milton Keynes on the site. On 23 January 1967, when the formal new town designation order was made, the area to be developed was largely farmland and undeveloped villages. The site was deliberately located equidistant from London, Birmingham, Leicester, Oxford and Cambridge with the intention that it"
"Book in 1086 as ""Sudtone"", Saxon for south farm, located at the present-day Barbican. From Saxon times, it was in the hundred of Roborough. In 1254 it gained status as a town and in 1439, became the first town in England to be granted a Charter by Parliament. Between 1439 and 1934, Plymouth had a Mayor. In 1914 the county boroughs of Plymouth and Devonport, and the urban district of East Stonehouse merged to form a single county borough of Plymouth. Collectively they were referred to as ""The Three Towns"". In 1919 Nancy Astor was elected the first ever female"
"town meeting of citizens annually or whenever the need arises. The Town of Shrewsbury, named for Shrewsbury, England, is a suburban community with an uneven and hilly terrain cut by a number of minor streams providing several small water power sites. Grants of land were made in what would eventually be the town beginning in 1664, with the grant called Haynes Farm as the largest. Settlers came primarily from Sudbury and Marlborough, and the first permanent settler was Gersham Wheelock in 1720. As a town, Shrewsbury was first settled in 1722 and officially incorporated in 1727. Townspeople created an agricultural"
"consider the establishment of Green Belts. This decision was made in tandem with the 1946 New Towns Act, which sought to depopulate urban centres in the South East of England and accommodate people in new settlements elsewhere. Green belt could therefore be designated by local authorities without worry that it would come into conflict with pressure from population growth. As the outward growth of London was seen to be firmly repressed, residents owning properties further from the built-up area also campaigned for this policy of urban restraint, partly to safeguard their own investments but often invoking an idealised scenic/rustic argument"
"towns and garden cities to get to grips with the country's housing shortage. Six new towns in Scotland were designated between 1955 and 1973, mostly for the overspill population of Glasgow. The New Towns Act (Northern Ireland) 1965 gave the Minister of Development of the Government of Northern Ireland the power to designate an area as a new town, and to appoint a development commission. An order could be made to transfer municipal functions of all or part of any existing local authorities to the commission, which took the additional title of urban district council, although unelected. This was done"
"shopping and business services. These created a car dependency and are now not considered sustainable. Low density developments are expensive to maintain. Roads and sewers are in need of expensive upgrades. New towns in the United Kingdom The new towns in the United Kingdom were planned under the powers of the New Towns Act 1946 and later acts to relocate populations in poor or bombed-out housing following the Second World War. They were developed in three waves. Later developments included the expanded towns: existing towns which were substantially expanded to accommodate what was called the ""overspill"" population from densely populated"