Tuesday 31 March Michael Mahoney Records and research 12 comments. This is the first of two blogs relating the story of the birth of council housing in Britain. Although the community aspect of the project has been postponed for the time being, when the project eventually goes ahead participants will visit an estate built as a consequence of the Housing Act.
They will then create artistic outputs inspired by records held at The National Archives and Wandsworth Heritage Service. The project has engaged local people as well as archivists, and has inspired me to research the path towards the Act that enabled new council housing at a national and local level.
In my second blog I will describe how the students used the resources here at The National Archives and Wandsworth Heritage Service, and discuss learning outcomes. But first I will explain how the Act came to pass. The Great War had accelerated the view that housing policy could no longer be left to the vagaries of the market. The question facing politicians at the conclusion of war was whether it was legitimate for government both central and local to intervene in the housing market.
At Armistice, the pressure for intervention — due to a national housing shortage, increasing threats of social unrest and rising costs — was overwhelming.
The context of the housing crisis at Armistice can best be explained by the political and social climate at the end of the war. Professional groups — trade unions, architects, social reformers, even some MPs — were calling for a different kind of society. Why could such houses and estates not be built for the working class?
Politicians were deeply worried that revolution and social unrest, already evident in Russia and Germany, would spread to Britain. Industrial unrest and the boycotting of peace celebrations were evident across the UK in The work would be supervised by the new Ministry of Health through a Housing Commissioner in each of 11 regions. The bill became law in July In December an additional Powers Act helped private builders gain a lump-sum subsidy to build. Housing standards were to be improved, with the inclusion of an indoor bathroom and WC as well as front and rear gardens.
One such estate built was the Dover House Estate in Roehampton. Land was purchased in July and approximately 1, houses would eventually be built. As a consequence of the increase in both materials and labour costs, only 17 houses had been completed by May and the final houses were not completed until Nevertheless, the Dover House Estate set a standard.
Are new borrowing freedoms sparking a revival of council housebuilding? The Addison Act marked the birth of council housebuilding. A century later, could recent financial freedom spark a renaissance? Nathaniel Barker investigates. How Cornwall is taking inspiration from Christopher Addison Cornwall Council is one of many keeping the legacy alive, writes Kate Kennally.
The Addison Act - celebrating years of council housing This year marks the th anniversary of the Addison Act — which paved the way for council housebuilding on a large scale. Inside Housing has a whole month of special activity planned and we want to hear your stories. London must recapture the housebuilding ambition of the Addison Act Councils are committed to development but are still facing unfair restrictions, writes Darren Rodwell of London Councils.
One hundred years ago, a piece of legislation led to the birth of council housing. It is so ingrained in our national consciousness that it is hard to imagine just how radical the idea of local authority built and funded housing must have seemed a century ago.
Before World War I, almost all housing in the UK was built by private developers albeit with some notable municipal exceptions in major cities. Given this, it is unsurprising that both quality and consistency of delivery were variable. The so-called Addison Act — the very first housing act passed in this country, named after its sponsor Dr later Lord Christopher Addison — received royal assent exactly years ago this month.
It may never have achieved its aspiration of delivering , homes something that may sound familiar to modern-day watchers of government housing policy but it was the start of a movement. New estates began to crop up across the country, built in accordance with recommendations from the Tudor Walters Report, which was produced to parliament in November These included limiting the length of terraced-housing blocks, mandating a minimum number of rooms and providing indoor bathrooms.
Although the abandonment of subsidy in and a change of government the following year curtailed the immediate growth of council-built housing, the seed had been sown. This month Inside Housing celebrates the centenary of the Addison Act with a month-long series of articles looking at how it transformed the social fabric of the country and created the housing sector we know today. Over the course of this month, we visit four estates, each symbolising a different era of council housebuilding.
We also take a look at whether new-found financial freedom for local authorities could be the catalyst for a new generation of estates. Martin Hilditch, editor of Inside Housing , takes a trip to Hulme in Manchester to examine how the private and public sector had to work together in the s to deliver a regeneration project, which is still thriving more than 30 years later.
For instance, during this period, a new three bedroom house was often only square feet compared to over square feet in New council housing was gradually becoming residualised and labelled for the very poor, despite this they generally continued to provide good quality accommodation.
After this initial burst of building activity across the country targeted at reducing the post-war housing shortage, local councils began to tackle the problem of its existing slum housing. The Housing Act of encouraged mass slum clearance and councils set to work to demolish poor quality housing and replace with new build.
The photo on the left shows a designated Slum Officer at work to prioritise the demolition. Slum areas of housing existed in most inner city areas and were generally old, neglected and unhealthy places to live. Many of the houses had originally built for workers during the period of rapid industrial development often without thought for overcrowding or amenities such as an adequate water supply, ventilation and sunlight. Using powers available under the Act to acquire and demolish privately owned properties, slum clearance schemes were put into action across the country.
By all authorities were required to concentrate efforts on slum clearance; each had to submit a programme of building and demolition aimed at eliminating slums from their districts. The city of Bristol had calculated they had 25, people living in houses unfit for human habitation and proposed the replacement of 5, unfit dwellings.
Unlike the garden estates built directly after the First World War, much of the slum clearance was replaced with flats, mostly three to five storeys high. They were often modelled on schemes in continental Europe such as the Quarry Hill flats in Leeds shown left which were inspired by a tour the Karl Marx building - workers flats in Vienna. Non-traditional building techniques were embraced - the photo to the right shows the steel framework for two of the units that would comprise Quarry Hill which was at this time the largest council house project in Europe.
Local councils tried initially to rehouse people locally back into the communities they were forced to vacate following the demolition of inner city slum areas. However central redevelopment was only ever confined to relatively small schemes at this time and the vast majority of new houses were built on new estates, most located on the fringes of the cities.
This was a combination of central policy and the high cost of inner city land. The new tenants had to weigh up the disadvantage of a considerably longer journey to work and sense of isolation against the benefits of a new well equipped home.
Rents were generally lower in this period than they were for earlier schemes built under the Housing Act. Despite this and a general commitment to house those in most need, in practice the ability to pay the rent played a crucial factor in allocation. Rents were set much lower following the Housing Act in line with re-housing some of the poorest people in society under slum clearance policy. Tenancy conditions were strict and regulations were enforced from the start.
Some tenants were put off by the oppressive housing management. In Liverpool women housing managers were employed to inspect properties and instruct tenants on good housekeeping. Below is an extract from a letter to new tenant from the Corporation of Bristol Housing Estates on 15th June making an offer of a new house on the Knowle West estate. But there will be no excuse in your new house. Do not buy secondhand furniture, bedding or pictures unless you are quite sure that the articles are free from vermin.
Insects do not like soap and hot water, and they also dislike dusters and polish. So if in the new house you keep your windows open, and keep your bodies and clothing, floors and stairs, furniture and bedding clean; use the duster frequently on all skirting and ledges, you are not likely to be troubled again with vermin.
The new house will be easy to keep clean and it will be well worth looking after As the war drew to a close, Britain faced its worst housing shortage of the twentieth century. Thousands of houses across the country had been lost by heavy bombing and many more were badly damaged. It was estimated that , new homes were required in England and Wales in to provide all families with accommodation.
Plans were drawn up for a major building programme, drawing on the themes established prior to The election of saw a Labour government voted in and housing policy was central to their welfare reforms in their manifesto. Aneurin Bevan, the Minister of Health, was responsible for the housing programme which focused heavily on local authority involvement rather than reliance of the private sector.
Added pressure on the Government came in the form of soldiers returning from war and rising working class expectations as a result of Labour's promises.
These were highly controversial at the time but the Prime Minister of the time, Winston Churchill, was strongly in favour and initiated the Temporary Prefabricated Housing programme.
Churchill originally wanted half a million prefabs built across the country as a stopgap measure until labour could be mobilised for more permanent housing. They were expected to last for only 10 years but they proved very popular with some residents. There are still many lived in across the country with in use today in the city of Bristol - one of the largest concentrations of prefabs left in the country.
Over the years most prefabs have been demolished and replaced with permanent housing. The first prefabs were completed June only weeks after the war had ended. Factories that had previously been employed to build other products such as Aeroplanes were converted to build sections of the innovative new houses. It took a minimum of 40 man-hours to assemble the two bedroom houses complete with plumbing and heating.
Sometimes prisoners of war who were still being held in the country were used to help in the construction of the concrete slabs on which the sections of bungalow were erected. The prefabs could be completed very quickly once the sections were delivered to the site. This article is more than 13 years old.
Local authorities have been providing housing since with lots of ups and downs since. Topics Communities Housing news.
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