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Public policy, urban renewal and property ownership, 1945-55

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  09 February 2009

Jim Yelling
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Abstract

Although plans for urban renewal after 1945 were largely based on clearance and redevelopment, the changed circumstances of post-war Britain also favoured a revival of interest in the repair and improvement of older housing. The article looks at the different approaches of Aneurin Bevan and Harold Macmillan, and at the reasons why only limited, if useful, progress was made. It stresses the significance of a repairs backlog in conjunction with the politics of property ownership and political conceptions of the conditions under which public money could be invested in urban renewal. In such considerations repair and improvement presented far greater difficulties than clearance and redevelopment, and this was an essential element in the continuing popularity of the latter method.

Type
Research Article
Information
Urban History , Volume 22 , Issue 1 , May 1995 , pp. 48 - 62
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1995

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References

1 Existing studies of this legislation, which also discuss the context of the period, include Barnett, M.J., The Politics of Legislation: the Rent Act 1957 (London, 1969)Google Scholar; Culling-worth, J.B., Housing and Local Government (London, 1966)Google Scholar; Gibson, M.S. and Langstaff, M.J., An Introduction to Urban Renewal (London, 1982)Google Scholar; Merrett, S., State Housing in Britain (London, 1979)Google Scholar; Moore, R., Reconditioning the Slums: The Development and Role of Housing Rehabilitation (London, 1980)Google Scholar and Pepper, S., Housing Improvement: Goals and Strategies (London, 1971).Google Scholar

2 This section is intended solely to provide some historical context for what follows. The argument is drawn from Yelling, J.A., Slums and Redevelopment: Policy and Practice in England 1918–1945, With Particular Reference to London (London, 1992)Google Scholar, and particularly from pp. 43–6, 52, 93–106, 136–8 and 174–7.

3 Departmental Committee on Housing (Moyne Committee), Report, Cmnd. 4397 (1933), 17–18.

4 Ministry of Health, Housing, Cmnd. 6609 (1945).

5 Hansard, 5th ser., vol. 420, cols 353–4, 6 March 1946.

6 Greater London Record Office (GLRO) CL/HSG/1/42. Conversion of premises in multi-occupation.

7 Ibid., letter from Westminster Council, 21 April 1944.

8 Central Housing Advisory Committee (Silkin Committee), Report on the Conversion of Existing Houses (London, 1945).Google Scholar

9 Hansard, 5th ser., vol. 414, cols 1227–8, 17 10 1945.Google Scholar

10 Central Housing Advisory Committee (Hobhouse Committee), Report on Reconditioning in Rural Areas (London, 1947), 1.Google Scholar

11 Ibid., 33.

12 Ibid., 28.

13 Public Record Office (PRO) HLG 29 323 Housing Bill 1949, LP 47 (113), 7 July 1947.

14 Ibid., Reconstruction and improvement of houses, memo, 8 January 1948.

15 Ibid., LP 47 (113), 7 July 1947.

16 This is discussed further in the section on the ‘repairs backlog’ (below).

17 Property Owners Protection Society, reported in Estates Gazette, CXLIX (1947), 326.Google Scholar

18 Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors, A Memorandum on Rent Restrictions and the Repair Problem (London, 1951).Google Scholar

19 PRO HLG 29 364 Housing Repairs and Rents Bill 1954, Houses old and new, memo, Boxing Day 1952.

20 Ibid., note from Powell, J. Enoch, 2 03 1953.Google Scholar

21 Ibid., Minister's statement to Cabinet, 16 April 1953.

22 Ibid., Instructions to Parliamentary Counsel, para. 9 (n.d. but c. Jan. 1953).

23 Ibid., memo, 24 February 1953.

24 Quoted in Estates Gazette, 164 (1954), 389.Google Scholar

25 PRO HLG 29/364, meeting, 17 December 1952.

26 Ibid., note from Wilkinson, S., 25 01 1953.Google Scholar

27 Ibid., Macmillan, H., Houses old and new.Google Scholar

28 Ibid., note from S. Wilkinson; memo 17 January 1953; Houses old and new.

29 PRO HLG 29 365. Housing Repairs and Rents Bill, vol. 2 Housing in Scotland, 22 July 1953; memo, 24 July 1953.

30 Ibid., memo from Graham, M., 12 08 1953.Google Scholar

31 Ibid., memo by Wilkinson, S., 11 09 1953.Google Scholar

32 Ibid., Birmingham scheme, 17 December 1952; HLG 29 365, memo by Edwards, H., 31 07 1953Google Scholar; HLG 68 152.

33 Estates Gazette, 149 (1947), 367.Google Scholar

34 HLG 29 365, memo by Deputy Chief Valuer, 26 September 1953.

35 Ibid., memo, 29 September 1953.

36 HLG 29 366, memo, 10 October 1953.

37 GLRO LCC Housing Committee Minutes, 18 November 1953 (4).

38 PRO HLG 68 157, memo from Sharp, E., 20 01 1953.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

39 Merrett, , State Housing, 247.Google Scholar

40 Barnett, , The Politics of Legislation, 70.Google Scholar

41 Ibid., 211–31; Merrett, , State Housing, 112.Google Scholar