The attitudes of the Ministry of Town and Country Planning towards blitzed cities in 1940s Britain

Abstract

German air raids during the Second World War damaged many British cities. Plymouth is one of the few cities in Britain that has persisted in its aim of comprehensively rebuilding the gutted city centre. It is also one of the few cities whose city centre plans gained approval during the 1940s from the Ministry responsible for town planning. Plymouth's plan was elaborated by Patrick Abercrombie, an eminent planner of the day, and Paton Watson, the city's engineer. Most other blitzed cities were not able to obtain a ministerial approval, and some ultimately abandoned their initial plans. This article considers the relationship between the government and Plymouth, especially from the viewpoint of the Ministry of Town and Country Planning, established during the war. In examining the Plymouth case through the prism of the new Ministry and comparing it with the circumstances of other blitzed cities, this article shows that the attitudes of the Ministry officials in their relationships with blitzed cities were at fault, and that they were consequently unable to intervene in a sufficiently effective and timely way.

Keywords:

• UK post-war reconstruction planning
• Ministry of Town and Country Planning
• Plymouth
• blitzed cities
• central and local government relationship

Notes

Larkham and Lilley, Planning the ‘City of Tomorrow’; Larkham and Lilley, “Plans, Planners and City Images,” 183–205; Tiratsoo, Reconstruction, Affluence and Labour Politics; Tiratsoo, “Labour and the Reconstruction of Hull”; Tiratsoo, “Reconstruction of Blitzed British Cities,” 27–44; Hasegawa, Replanning the Blitzed City Centre; Hasegawa, “Rise and Fall of Radical Reconstruction,” 137–161; Hasegawa, “Governments, Consultants and Expert Bodies,” 121–144; Hasegawa, “Reconstruction of Portsmouth in the 1940s,” 45–62.

Abercrombie and Watson, A Plan for Plymouth.

Chalkley, “Plan for the City Centre”; Chalkley, “Living with the Legacy”; Chalkley and Goodridge, “1943 Plan for Plymouth.”

Brayshay and Essex, “Town Versus Country in the 1940s,” 239–264; Brayshay and Essex, “Vision, Vested Interest and Pragmatism,” 417–441; Brayshay and Essex, “Boldness Diminished?” 437–461.

Larkham, “Hostages to History?” 487–492. Also see, Larkham, “Agents of Change in the Post-war Reconstruction,” 28–29.

There was also one Welsh city, Swansea, selected as a case study by the APRCC. For the APRCC, see materials in The National Archives (NA) HLG 88.

Braysha and Essex, “Vision, Vested Interest and Pragmatism,” 425.

For the development of the government reconstruction planning policies, see Cullingworth, Environmental Planning. Volume I.

Neal, “Blitzed Towns,” NA HLG 71/597, October 30, 1945.

Minutes of the Borough Council, Southampton City Record Office (SRO), September 17, 1941.

Letters from S. D. Adshead to H. T. Cook, March 29 and June 8, 1943, SRO, SC/BA 2/39.

Minutes of the Borough Council, SRO, March 27, 1946.

Note of the conference on March 23, 1948, SRO, TC Box 25. For Southampton, see Hasegawa, Replanning the Blitzed City Centre, chs. 5, 7 and 8.

Minutes of the City Council, Portsmouth Central Library, February 23, 1943.

Kirk to Walsh, June 4, 1946, NA HLG 79/593, quoted in Larkham, “Agents of Change,” 27.

Kennedy, “Portsmouth CB,” December 4, 1946, NA HLG 71/15 and “Portsmouth County Borough: Preliminary Note on the Outline Plan,” February 1947, NA HLG 71/15.

“Portsmouth County Borough. Note of Interview,” April 25, 1946, NA HLG 79/593. This memo is reproduced in Larkham, “Agents of Change,” 33–34. For Portsmouth, also see Hasegawa, “Reconstruction of Portsmouth in the 1940s.”

Jones, “… a fairer and nobler City,” 313–314.

“Kingston-Upon-Hull C. B. Case History,” NA HLG 79/269, May 1947.

Ibid.

Tiratsoo, “Labour and the Reconstruction of Hull,” 137–142.

Minutes of the PRC, Bristol Record Office (BRC), March 1 and September 21, 1944.

Professor Holford to H. W. J. Heck, June 5, 1945, NA HLG 71/597.

Minute of the PRC, February 12, 1947, BRC.

Minutes of the PRC, July 23, 1947, BRC.

Bristol Evening World, May 16, 1949. For Bristol, see Hasegawa, Replanning the Blitzed City Centre, chs. 6, 7 and 8.

Neal, “Blitzed Towns,” NA HLG 71/597.

Letter from G. L. Pepler to the town clerk, December 7, 1942, NA HLG 79/131.

APRCC, “Minutes No. 4,” July 19, 1943, NA HLG 79/132.

Larkham, “Agents of Change,” 27.

“Note of a meeting at Coventry,” February 24, 1944, NA HLG 79/131.

B. Gille to Pepler, May 18, 1944, NA HLG 79/131.

Minutes of City Redevelopment Committee, July 11, 1945, Coventry City Record Office.

W. B. Vince to J. Earley, April 20, 1948, NA HLG 71/13.

Note of conference of the Ministry officials on May 9, 1949, NA HLG 71/13.

“City of Plymouth. Special Works Committee. Special Meeting. 4 July 1941,” NA HLG 79/990.

C. Campbell to the Ministry of Health, April 21, 1941, NA HLG 79/990.

“Bombed Areas. Redevelopment. Plymouth. Preliminary Report, by R. A. Hudson, M. T. P. I.,” September 4, 1941, NA HLG 79/990.

Campbell to Astor, November 18, 1942, accompanying letter from Astor to Lord Portal, November 19, 1942, NA HLG 79/990.

Ibid.

E. S. Hill to Parliamentary Secretary of the Ministry of Works and Planning, November 28, 1942, NA HLG 79/990.

Portal to Astor, December 1, 1942, NA HLG 79/990.

Astor to W. S. Morrison, January 14, 1943, NA HLG 79/990.

Hill to Parliamentary Secretary, January 4, 1943, NA HLG 79/990 and Hill to S. W. C. Phillips, February 13, 1943, NA HLG 79/990.

K. S. Dodd to Hill, February 9, 1943, NA HLG 79/990.

Morrison to Astor, January 18, 1943, NA HLG 79/990.

S. L. G. Beaufoy, “Visit to Ex[e]ter and Plymouth,” March 12, 1943, NA HLG 79/990, 3–4.

H. W. J. Heck to Pepler, September 3, 1943, NA HLG 79/990.

H. W. Wells to J. Paton Watson, September 23, 1943, NA HLG 79/990.

Wells to Neal, October 15, 1943, NA HLG 79/990.

APRCC, ‘Minutes No. 13’ of the meeting held on December 15, 1943, NA HLG 88/9, 4–5. Also see, APRCC, “Notes Preliminary to a Visit to Plymouth,” NA HLG 88/9.

APRCC, ‘Minutes No. 14’ of the meeting held January 4, 1944, NA HLG 88/9, 1–2.

Ibid., 3, 5.

APRCC, ‘Minutes No. 15’ of the meeting held January 19, 1944, NA HLG 88/9, 1–2.

Heck to Dodd, April 27, 1944 and Dodd to Heck, May 18, 1944, NA HLG 79/990.

Wells to Watson, February 29 and March 31, 1944, and Watson to Wells, March 10 and April 3, 1944, NA HLG 79/990.

Heck to Dodd, August 24, 1944, NA HLG 79/990.

Braysha and Essex, “Vision, Vested Interest and Pragmatism,” 430.

Wells to Dodd, August 29, 1944, NA HLG 79/990.

“Notes of a meeting held on 6th September 1944 …,” NA HLG 79/990.

Heck to Wells, August 30, 1944, NA HLG 79/990.

Matthew and Harrison, eds., Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, 802.

Although Astor had misgivings that the leading members on the council made reconstruction a matter of party politics. See Braysha and Essex, “Vision, Vested Interest and Pragmatism,” 427–428.

Neal to Pepler, November 21, 1944, NA HLG 79/990.

Heck to F. G. Downing, February 6, 1945, NA HLG 79/532.

Heck to Downing, February 12, 1945, NA HLG 79/532.

Heck to Downing, March 20, 1945, NA HLG 79/532.

From A. B. Valentine to Campbell, May 29, 1945 and Campbell to Valentine, May 30, 1945, NA HLG 79/532. Also see Brayshay and Essex, “Boldness Diminished?” 458, fn 87.

Hill to Valentine, June 9, 1945, NA HLG 79/532.

“City of Plymouth – Reconstruction. Brief for the Minister's Conference – February 20th, 1946,” NA HLG 79/597.

Heck, “Technical Group on Reconstruction …,” March 18, 1946, NA HLG 71/11, 1.

Stephenson, “Plymouth. Reconstruction Area No. 1,” sent to Hill, April 17, 1946, NA HLG 71/11.

“Technical Department. Report by Reconstruction Areas Committee …,” April 1946, NA HLG 71/11. Also see, Heck, “Ministry of Town and Country Planning. South Western Region. City of Plymouth …,” November 2, 1945, NA HLG 71/11.

“Plymouth Central Area. Notes of a meeting … 5th December, 1946,” NA HLG 79/536 (also in NA HLG 71/11), 1.

“Plymouth Central Area Case History,” NA HLG 71/11.

Brayshay and Essex, “Boldness Diminished?” 451.

“Plymouth Central Area Case History,” NA HLG 71/11.

“Notes of meeting held at Plymouth on March 6th, 1947,” NA HLG 79/536.

Heck to D. P. Walsh, July 10, 1947, NA HLG 79/536.

Walsh to Campbell, July 26, 1947, NA HLG 79/536.

Ibid.

Stephenson to Walsh, March 10, 1947, NA HLG 71/11. Also see, Heck to Walsh, July 10, 1947, NA HLG 79/536.

Shoesmith, “City of Plymouth,” March 20, 1945, NA HLG 79/532, 1.

See materials in NA HLG 79/559.

Heck, “Meeting at Board of Trade Offices, Plymouth, 3.7.1947,” NA HLG 79/536, 1.

“Plymouth Central Area. Notes of meeting … on the 13 November,” NA HLG 71/11, 1.

Brayshay and Essex, “Vision, Vested Interest and Pragmatism,” 432, 433–434.

Gould, Plymouth Planned, 19; Brayshay and Essex, “Boldness Diminished?” 460.

Lichfield, “Note of a meeting held on the 14th April, 1950,” NA HLG 79/536.

 Neal, “Blitzed Towns,” NA HLG 71/597.

Larkham, “Agents of Change,” 29.

Heck, “Meeting at the Regional Planning Office … 22.5.46,” NA HLG 79/536, 1–2.