![Sample our Environment & Sustainability journals, sign in here to start your access, latest two full volumes FREE to you for 14 days]({"type":"image" , "src" : "/sda/5935/TOC-Subject-Sample-2021-Environment-Sustainability.jpg"})
ABSTRACT
This article examines the key issues and operational problems which arose when the district councils in the Metropolitan Police District prepared town planning schemes between 1909 and 1934. Their positive response was perhaps surprising bearing in mind that the planning system introduced in 1909 was cumbersome, tightly constrained and time consuming, that no provision was made for exercising control over built up areas, that town and regional planning were in their infancy both as a professional activity and fields of academic study, and that it was not until the 1920s that the Ministry of Health issued detailed guidance on the preparation, form and content of town planning schemes. Despite these problems, 73% of the Metropolitan Police District was subject to interim planning control by 1933. This provided a planning framework which was apparently accepted by most landowners judging from the small number of planning appeals that were lodged and the even smaller number that were upheld. They were, however, unable to overcome the problems presented by the statutory provisions for compensation, and thus prevent the wave of residential development which took place in the Metropolis and surrounding Home Counties.
Correction Statement
This article has been republished with minor changes. These changes do not impact the academic content of the article.
Acknowledgements
I wish to acknowledge the encouraging comments and advice of Sir Malcolm Grant, Sir Peter Hall (now deceased), Professor Michael Hebbert and the anonymous referees. Thanks are also due to Sara Arnold, Ruth Dar, and the staff of the London Metropolitan and the National Archives, the Royal Institute of British Architects and the Royal Town Planning Institute.
Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.
Notes on Contributor
Michael P. Collins employed in the Town Planning Division of the London County Council (1956–1964) and the UCL Town Planning Department (1964–1998). Seconded to the DoE to advise on the formulation of Regional Planning Guidance. Participated in DoE research projects on: Lambeth Inner City Area, local economic planning, use of underground space for the storage of low grade nuclear waste, the role of density standards in land use planning, and BRE projects on planted shelter belts, energy saving and micro-climatic control.
Notes
1 Local Plans Expert Group, 2016. Section 1.
2 House of Lords, 2016. Paragraph 148.
3 Scottish Government, 2017.
4 The Planner, 2018. 7.
5 No comparable data was published by the Ministry of Health after 1934.
6 Collins, “Land Use Planning Since 1947,” 116–122.
7 Collins, “The London County Council’s Approach to Town Planning”.
8 Asworth, The Genesis of Modern British Town Planning. Cherry, The Evolution of British Town Planning.
9 Booth and Huxley, “1909 and all that,” 267–83.
10 Poxon, “Solving the development plan puzzle in Britain,” 73–89.
11 Sheail, “Recollections of a Government Official”.
12 Crow, “Development Control,” 399–411.
13 Collins, “Development Plan Coverage in England 1909-2012,” 1492.
14 Barlow Report, Report of the Royal Commission, 106.
15 Ibid, 74.
16 Ministry of Health, Notes on the Preparation and bringing into Operation of Schemes under the Town and Country Planning Act 1932, 27.
17 Committee on Byelaws, 1918, para 119.
18 Registrar General, 1822, Appendix (B).
19 Young and Garside, 1981, 12–13.
20 Fletcher, “The Metropolis”.
21 Report of Commissioners, The State of Large Towns, 388–9. Unhealthy Areas, Interim Report, 1920, 2. Innes, “Managing the Metropolis,” 53–55.
22 That part of the Metropolitan Police District which surrounded the County of London.
23 A Bill for further improving the Police in and near the Metropolis, 25 February 1839, clause 12.
24 Royal Commission on London Government, 1923.
25 Ibid. 2, para 6.
26 Herbert-Young, “Central Government,” 347.
27 Local Government Board, Thirty-Ninth Annual Report 1909-1910, cxx.
28 Local Government Board, Circular No 9, 3 May 1910.
29 Minister of Town and Country Planning, 1944 para 4.
30 Local Government Board, 1911, Appendix 1.38.
31 Local Government Board, Forty-Second Annual Report 1912-1913, lxx.
32 Ibid, lx–lxi.
33 Committee Report on Land Values, 1920, para 5.
34 Committee Report on Working Class Dwellings, 1918, 8–10.
35 Ministry of Health, Fourth Annual Report 1922-1923, 49.
36 Punter, “A History of Aesthetic Control,” 353.
37 Ministry of Health, 1932, 125.
38 Ministry of Health, 1933, 194.
39 Robson, The Government and Misgovernment of London, 445.
40 Ministry of Works and Planning, Cmd 6386, 1942, 8.
41 Ministry of Town and Country Planning, Department of Health for Scotland, Report of the Committee on Qualifications of Planners, Cmd. 8059, 1950. Para 44(6).
42 Abercrombie and Davidge, “Progress of the Town Planning Act,” 256.
43 Sheail, “The Introduction of Statutory Planning in Rural Areas,” 74–75.
44 Hall et al., The Containment of Urban England, 92.
45 Nettlefold, “Birmingham,” 110.
46 Adams, “West Middlesex Regional Survey,” 203.
47 Ministry of Works & Planning, Cmd 6386, 1942, 9.
48 Cherry, Gordon, 1974, 117.
49 Pepler, “Twenty-One Years of Town Planning in England and Wales,” 50.
50 Ashworth, The Genesis of Modern British Town Planning, 235.
51 Housing, Town Planning, etc. Act 1909, section 54(1).
52 Booth and Huxley, “1909 and all that,” 268.
53 The Preliminary Statement comprised a statement setting out the basic principles of the of the proposed Scheme together with a map of the main proposals.
54 Sheail, “The Introduction of Statutory Planning in Rural Areas,” 73.
55 Uthwatt Report, 1942, 9.
56 Minister of Town and Country Planning, Cmd 6537, 1944, paragraph 5.
57 Ministry of Health, Second Annual Report 1920-1921, Cmd 1446, 80.
58 Ministry of Health, Fifteenth Annual Report 1933-1934, Cmd 4664, 174.
59 Simpson, Thomas Adams and the Modern Town Planning Movement in Britain, Canada and the United States, 57.
60 Nettlefold, John, Sutton, 1914, 201.
61 Editorial, “County Boroughs,” 2.
62 Herbert-Young, “Central Government and Statutory Planning under the Town Planning Act 1909,” 343.
63 City Survey, 3.
64 Simpson, Thomas Adams and the Modern Town Planning Movement in Britain, Canada and the United States, 57.
65 Abercrombie, “Town Planning in Greater London,” 105–11.
66 Herbert Young, “Central Government and Statutory Planning under the Town Planning Act 1909,” 343.
67 Adshead, “The Town Planning Conference at West Bromwich,” 175–82.
68 Mawson, “The Position and Prospects of Landscape Architecture in England:11,” 305–8.
69 Rodwin, “The Achilles Heel of British Town Planning,” 22–5.
70 Abercrombie, “Town Planning in Greater London,” 101.
71 Nettlefold, J.S, 1914, 201.
72 Adshead, “The Democratic View of Town Planning,” 186.
73 Unwin, Town Planning in Practice.
74 Sheail, “The Introduction of Statutory Planning in Rural Areas,” 82.
75 Ministry of Works and Planning, Report of the Committee on Land Utilization in Rural Areas, 43.
76 London Traffic Report, 1905, 6.
77 Board of Trade, Report of the London Traffic Branch, 5.
78 Dix, “Little Plans and Noble Diagrams,” 329–52.
79 Buchanan, London Road Plans 1900–1970, 14.
80 The Development and Road Improvement Funds Act 1909 set up the Road Board. It administered the vehicle and fuel taxes, and made advances to county councils for the construction of new roads and the improvement of existing roads.
81 Road Board, Ninth Annual Report, 55.
82 Hewitt, “The Civic Survey of Greater London”.
83 Ministry of Health, Second Annual Report 1920–1921, 82.
84 Royal Commission, on Local Government, Para 8, 147.
85 Johnson, The Suburban Expansion of Homes in Greater London 1919–1939, 1964.
86 Ibid, 54.
87 Ministry of Town and Country Planning, The Control of Land Use, 4.
88 Hardy, “Utopian Ideas and the Planning of London,” 35–49.
89 The London Society, 1919.
90 Fleure, “Regional Survey Preparatory to Town Planning,” 31–43.
91 Ministry of Health, First Annual Report 1919–1920, 46.
92 Ministry of Health, 1932, 129.
93 Tonbridge & Tandering Joint Planning Committee.
94 Ibid.
95 Roxbury, and Beaufoy, “Regional Planning,” 83–104.
96 West Middlesex Regional Survey, 220.
97 Ministry of Health, Eleventh Annual Report 1929–1930, 106.
98 Ministry of Health Interim Report, 1932, p.4.
99 London Metropolitan Archives, LCC/CL/TP/01/112.30, 3-4.
100 Serplan, Thirty Years of Regional Planning.
101 Ministry of Health, Eighth Annual Report 1926-1927, 75–6.
102 Barlow Commission, Report of the Royal Commission on the Distribution of Industrial Population, 177.
103 Ministry of Health, Fifth Annual Report 1923-1924, 54.
104 Poxon, “Solving the development plan puzzle in Britain,” 75.
105 Pepler, “Twenty-One Years of Town Planning in England and Wales,” 57–61.
106 Sheail, Rural Conservation, 63–79.
107 Local Government Board, 1920, p85.
108 Abercrombie, “Town Planning in Greater London,” 262. Saint, “Spread the People”, Critique of LCC’s dispersal policy.1919. 85.
109 Young and Garside, Metropolitan London: Politics and Urban Change 1837-1981, 165–6.
110 Authorised on 26th March 1911 and approved by the Minister on 7th September 1914.
111 The Ruislip Manor Company held a competition which attracted entries from 62 architects. The winning entry prepared by M. and J. Souter, was chosen by Sir Aston Webb and Raymond Unwin.
112 Thompson, “The Ruislip-Northwood and Ruislip Manor Joint Town Planning Scheme,” 133.
113 Punter, “A History of Aesthetic Control,” 352,
114 Barlow, Report of the Royal Commission on the Distribution of Industrial Population, 106.
115 Local Government Board, Forty-fourth Annual Report 1914-1915, 30.
116 Local Government Boards, Report on the Method of Securing Economy with the Provision of Dwellings for the Working Classes in England Wales and Scotland, 78.
117 Board of Trade, Report of London Traffic Branch. Cd 7190. HMSO1911, 13–14.
118 See note dated 19th January 1922 prepared by MoH solicitors branch.
119 See National Archives References HLG4 1820 and 1822.
120 Ibid, Letters to the MoH dated 16th January, 12th February, 20th February 1923.
121 See exchange of letters between George Pepler (MoH) and Charles Bressey (MoT).
122 See National Archives Reference HLG4 195.
123 See minutes of meeting dated 2nd February 1912.
124 See minutes of the meeting held on 10th June 1921.
125 See Municipal Journal 9th November 1923.
126 Report prepared by Mr Longstreth Thompson.
127 See letter dated 15th July 1929.
128 See letter dated 27th November 1926.
129 Ministry of Town and Country Planning, The Control of Land Use, 4.
130 Ministry of Health, Interim Report, 4–5.
131 Ministry of Health, Notes on the Preparation and bringing into Operation of Schemes under the Town and Country Planning Act 1932, 2.
132 Ibid.
133 Barlow, Report of the Royal Commission on the Distribution of Industrial Population, loc cit p.105.
134 Ministry of Health, 1928, 120.
135 Sheail, “Recollections of a Government Official,” 288.
136 Ibid.
137 Collins, “Development Plan Coverage in England 1909-2012”.
138 Collins, “Land Use Planning Since 1947”.
139 Collins, “Development Plan Coverage in England 1909-2012,” 1489–1493.
140 Barlow, Report of the Royal Commission on the Distribution of Industrial Population, 105. Ministry of Health, Garden Cities, 6.
141 Ministry of Local Government and Planning, 1951. 4.
142 Barlow Report, Report of the Royal Commission on the Distribution of Industrial Population, 113.
143 Robson, The Government and Misgovernment of London, 1939, 413.
144 Adshead, “The Town Planning of Greater London after the War,” 133.
145 Law, “Stopping to Dream.”
146 Barlow Report, Report of the Royal Commission on the Distribution of Industrial Population, 84.
147 Ministry of Health, Twelve Annual Report 1930–1931, 133.
148 Barlow Report, Report of the Royal Commission on the Distribution of Industrial Population, 105.
149 Ministry of Health, Fifteenth Annual Report 1933–1934, 174.
150 Ministry of Town and Country Planning & the Ministry of Health for Scotland, Report of the Committee on Qualifications of Planners, 12.
151 Collins, “Development Plan Coverage in England 1909–2012,” 1492–1494;
Collins, “Land Use Planning Since 1947,” 110–130.
152 Booth and Huxley, “1909 and All That,” 268.
153 Ministry of Reconstruction Report, Report on The Work of The Ministry for the Period Ending 31st December 1918, para 44.
154 Local Government Board, Forty-Eighth Annual Report 1918–1919, para 86.
155 Barlow Report, Report of the Royal Commission on the Distribution of Industrial Population, 106.
156 Garden Cities and Satellite Towns, 1935, 6.
157 Ibid.
158 Ministry of Works and Planning, Report, Expert Committee on Compensation and Betterment, 9.
159 Ministry of Town and County Planning, Town and Country Planning, 1943–1951, 4.
160 Ministry of Works and Planning, Report, Expert Committee on Compensation and Betterment, 9.
161 See Ellis Re Ruislip – Northwood District Council, (1920), 1, KB 343, 345.
162 Ministry of Health Report, Twentieth Annual Report 1938–1939, 109.
163 Ministry of Town and Country Planning, Town and Country Planning, 1943–1951, 2.
164 Sheil, “Recollections of a Government Official,” 288.
165 Report of the Ministry of Health 1930–1931, Twelve Annual Report 1930–1931, Cmd 3937, 133–4.
166 Over 40% of local councils had not published a draft local plan by 13th April 2017, Lichfields, Planned and Deliver – Local Plan-making Under the NPPF, 1.
167 Ministry of Health, Fourteenth Annual Report 1932–1933, 113.