Reconstruction planning and the small town in early post‐war Britain

Abstract

The majority of studies of British post-war reconstruction planning have focused on the better-known plans for larger towns and cities, yet many much smaller places were also represented in the tremendous outpouring of plans in the period c. 1951-2. This paper discusses the context of the smaller town replanning, using four very different unbombed towns and plans as exemplars (Bewdley, Durham, Todmorden and Warwick). Uninformative and incomplete records still preclude explicit discussion of why consultants were chosen in each of these cases and, indeed, small towns seem unusually prone to engage expensive consultants. Key common themes in the plans included road provision and housing conditions; indeed, the concerns of these small-town plans are little different from those of larger, and badlybombed, places -perhaps because consultants were used. However, the removal of planning powers from all of these authorities under the 1947 Act meant that implementation of expensive plans was delayed and substantially amended: perhaps the bandwagon of replanning was not worth the expense?

Thomas Sharp and the post‐war replanning of Chichester: conflict, confusion and delay

“…In fact, relative to its resources, this was exceeded only by King's Lynn in a comparison of 16 towns -and King's Lynn was also employing Sharp. 18 This fee brought Sharp in person to study the town. However, this was not a full-time commission as he was plainly working on other projects, including a plan for Salisbury, at much the same time.…”

Review of periodical literature published in 2008

“…Davis demonstrates that Harold Macmillan, as a Conservative Housing Minister, deliberately benefited Labour‐run local authorities rather than small land owners. Larkham and Pendlebury examine the issue of small town redevelopment. They suggest that removal (in 1947) of planning powers from the authorities found in these small towns had ramifications for the implementation of the planning process.…”