Greater London Plan 1944 - proposals for Chipping Ongar New Town, Essex - Greensted neighbourhood shopping centre
Ah! Post WW2 planners utopia! As early as 1942/43 British planners were looking ahead to post-war reconstruction - both to deal with the devastation of Britain's urban fabric by enemy bombing as well as the social and economic 'evils' of much of the unchecked Victorian urban and industrial expansion. Hitherto much of the methodology behind contemporary urban expansion and new housing was to manage the rapid suburban development that, in many cities had lead to edge of town development of 'suburbia' - interestingly loved by those who lived and aspired to such 'semis' and hated by planners and architects as drab fungal growths on the urban fringe ('subtopia'). The other great priority was slum clearance and in-city redvelopment of existing urban areas. Most British towns, cities and regions produced massive development plans and these were to form the foundation of many elements of post-war construction - most notably in the landmark Town & Country Planning Act of 1947 in which the new Labour Government enshrined the production of planning and plans themselves, introduced the 'green belt' concept to protect the boundaries of existing and pushed for the construction of quite a British solution - "New Towns". In the 1940s and '50s numerous New Towns were 'designated' including a ring of such towns around London that had been suggested in the 1944 Greater London Plan. This magnificent volume, sister to the 1943 County of London Plan, was largely authored by one of the doyen of UK planning, Patrick Abercrombie. It put forward plans that helped formulate various of the London 'new towns' - one site considered was the large Essex village of Chipping Ongar, better known as Ongar. Eventually Ongar was de-selected in c1947 largely because of the cost of the ambitious transport plans involving the London - Ongar branch railway line - the scheme would have seen extension of the line into a loop running through to Brentwood and electrification. This foundered, due to potential costs in post-war austerity - had it happened the history of the branch (that ended up being reluctantly electrified as part of London Transport's Central line and eventually abandoned in 1994) would have been very, very different. Anyhow - the Plan contains some illustrations of the 'new world' proposed - by the illustrator Peter Shepheard, they are in that marvellous style that seems so utopian to us now but must have been so asperational and vital to a British population that had suffered years of war, depression and who often lived in crowded, drab slums. Here we see spring in the air at the sleek lines of a proposed neighbourhood shopping centre that would have helped form the nucleus of the Greensted 'village' to the west of Ongar. Much was made of the traffic free environment - this form of segregation was seen as being key to allow the relaxed, carefree lifestyle New Towns would offer. Happy women and children, cavorting with cats and dogs (I see no men - they're all at work!) do the daily shopping, having arrived by foot or London Transport bus - one of the drawbacks of many post-war plans was the inability to deal with late 20th century growth in personal ownership of motor cars that is seen in road sizes and car parking in many UK towns and cities. In the evening you could have gone to the Greensted Ritz - to see Carmen Miranda in Rio, I'm amazed it isn't 'Brave New World"!
If Ongar didn't get off the drawing board a neighbouring Essex village of Harlow did and was to see precisely the sorts of changes that Ongar had illustrated. Harlow, designated in 1947, saw many of these proposals implemented and, in time, was seen to be the most successful of the 'New Towns'. Places such as Harlow are easily sneered at I fear but one has to admire the energy and passion put into the intention to 'better' peoples lives, whatever you think of the planning and concepts. Interesting that now, in 2014, a new generation of New Towns is proposed to help manage the UK's housing shortage - based on the premise that the 1947 Act, now seen by some as being at the roots of the 'strangulation' of urban development, has been radically overturned we may turn back to one of the very concepts that engendered such centralised planning!
Greater London Plan 1944 - proposals for Chipping Ongar New Town, Essex - Greensted neighbourhood shopping centre
Ah! Post WW2 planners utopia! As early as 1942/43 British planners were looking ahead to post-war reconstruction - both to deal with the devastation of Britain's urban fabric by enemy bombing as well as the social and economic 'evils' of much of the unchecked Victorian urban and industrial expansion. Hitherto much of the methodology behind contemporary urban expansion and new housing was to manage the rapid suburban development that, in many cities had lead to edge of town development of 'suburbia' - interestingly loved by those who lived and aspired to such 'semis' and hated by planners and architects as drab fungal growths on the urban fringe ('subtopia'). The other great priority was slum clearance and in-city redvelopment of existing urban areas. Most British towns, cities and regions produced massive development plans and these were to form the foundation of many elements of post-war construction - most notably in the landmark Town & Country Planning Act of 1947 in which the new Labour Government enshrined the production of planning and plans themselves, introduced the 'green belt' concept to protect the boundaries of existing and pushed for the construction of quite a British solution - "New Towns". In the 1940s and '50s numerous New Towns were 'designated' including a ring of such towns around London that had been suggested in the 1944 Greater London Plan. This magnificent volume, sister to the 1943 County of London Plan, was largely authored by one of the doyen of UK planning, Patrick Abercrombie. It put forward plans that helped formulate various of the London 'new towns' - one site considered was the large Essex village of Chipping Ongar, better known as Ongar. Eventually Ongar was de-selected in c1947 largely because of the cost of the ambitious transport plans involving the London - Ongar branch railway line - the scheme would have seen extension of the line into a loop running through to Brentwood and electrification. This foundered, due to potential costs in post-war austerity - had it happened the history of the branch (that ended up being reluctantly electrified as part of London Transport's Central line and eventually abandoned in 1994) would have been very, very different. Anyhow - the Plan contains some illustrations of the 'new world' proposed - by the illustrator Peter Shepheard, they are in that marvellous style that seems so utopian to us now but must have been so asperational and vital to a British population that had suffered years of war, depression and who often lived in crowded, drab slums. Here we see spring in the air at the sleek lines of a proposed neighbourhood shopping centre that would have helped form the nucleus of the Greensted 'village' to the west of Ongar. Much was made of the traffic free environment - this form of segregation was seen as being key to allow the relaxed, carefree lifestyle New Towns would offer. Happy women and children, cavorting with cats and dogs (I see no men - they're all at work!) do the daily shopping, having arrived by foot or London Transport bus - one of the drawbacks of many post-war plans was the inability to deal with late 20th century growth in personal ownership of motor cars that is seen in road sizes and car parking in many UK towns and cities. In the evening you could have gone to the Greensted Ritz - to see Carmen Miranda in Rio, I'm amazed it isn't 'Brave New World"!
If Ongar didn't get off the drawing board a neighbouring Essex village of Harlow did and was to see precisely the sorts of changes that Ongar had illustrated. Harlow, designated in 1947, saw many of these proposals implemented and, in time, was seen to be the most successful of the 'New Towns'. Places such as Harlow are easily sneered at I fear but one has to admire the energy and passion put into the intention to 'better' peoples lives, whatever you think of the planning and concepts. Interesting that now, in 2014, a new generation of New Towns is proposed to help manage the UK's housing shortage - based on the premise that the 1947 Act, now seen by some as being at the roots of the 'strangulation' of urban development, has been radically overturned we may turn back to one of the very concepts that engendered such centralised planning!