“All things are ready if our
mind be
so”
A Plan for London and the whole
Region,
which might be considered to fall under the metropolitan influence, had
long been overdue when the Royal Commission on the Location of the
Industrial
Population reported in 1939. London was therein singled out for
immediate
action.
The war, in addition to the
complete cessation
of normal life and growth, brought three new factors on to the scene -
the destruction of large areas, particularly in the centre; the
evacuation
of a large proportion of the population; and the industrial upheaval
due
to almost universal war production. Not only the necessity for some
plan
of action became obvious; the opportunity presented itself to locate
population
and industry more logically, to improve transport radically, and to
determine
a proper use of the land. Finally, the ultimate size of London was
inescapably
involved.
This Plan is an attempt to make
use of
the opportunity. It continues without break the plan prepared for the
London
County Council and should be studied and read together with it.
It is hoped that it may make some
contribution
to the future state of this country and to enable it to settle down to
a life of peace.
INTRODUCTORY
Since the beginning of the
present war
three plans, dealing with parts of the London Region, have been
prepared,
and each is complementary to the other two. The City of London has
prepared
proposals dealing with planning and reconstruction in the vital Square
Mile at the hub of the Metropolis. The County of London Plan, 1943,
deals
with the area beyond this up to the confines of the administrative
County
boundary. From this line again, outwards to a distance of approximately
30 miles from the centre, the present study, the Greater London Plan
1944,
is concerned. But these three complementary studies are each
investigations
into parts only of the one and indivisible Metropolis, whose boundaries
are invisible to the naked eye, unrealised by the normal citizen - save
when indicated by rate demands - and unmeaning to the planner.
These three different areas are
all administratively
of first-rate importance. The compact unity of the City and the more
widely
flung control of the L.C.C., superimposed except for certain lesser
functions
on the areas of the Metropolitan Boroughs, contrast sharply with the
multiplicity
of administrative units in Greater London, with its 2,599 square miles
divided up into 143 local authorities. In the area there is also a vast
number of statutory authorities whose functions one way and another
impinge
upon planning, such as the Port of London Authority, the Thames
Conservancy,
Drainage and Hospital Boards, Gas, Electric Supply, Railway and Canal
Companies,
etc. Of the 143 local authorities, nearly every one has a planning
scheme
prepared, or in course of preparation, independently of its neighbours.
Less joint preparation has been evidenced here than in any other urban
group in the country. Although a few Advisory and Executive Committees
have been at work, there has been a lamentable failure to realise a
need
for co-ordination in planning all round London.
A glance in retrospect is here
necessary
to summarise the valiant attempts to overcome this failure, but it is
with
profound regret that one looks back at the years of wasted effort and
lost
opportunities.
Retrospect of attempts at
Co-ordination
During the last war the London
Society
was instrumental in preparing a plan for London which was full of
guidance
for the future, especially in regard to roads and open spaces.
In March, 1920, the Unhealthy
Areas Committee,
presided over by Mr. Neville Chamberlain, issued an interim report
which
dealt particularly with the London areas, and in April, 1921, their
final
report was issued.
Recommendation 11 of this
report
was to the effect that some competent person or persons should be at
once
authorised to prepare a plan for the reconstruction of London and the
surrounding
country, including the Home Counties as well as the Metropolitan and
City
Police Districts.
Recommendation 12 was to
the effect
that an inquiry should be instituted without delay as to the nature,
scope
and functions of a new authority or combination of authorities to give
statutory effect to such a plan, with such modifications as may be
thought
necessary, to control transport and to make such financial adjustments
between the local authorities concerned as may be required.
Shortly after this the Greater
London
Regional Planning Committee was formed at the instigation of the
Minister
of Health, and Dr. Raymond Unwin was appointed as Technical Adviser.
This
Committee, composed of a large number of persons representing the
various
local planning authorities, was unfortunately unable to come to any far
reaching decisions. The reports which they issued consisted mainly of a
series of valuable contributions by Dr. Unwin, on which if action had
been
taken, the planning problems of Greater London would have been vastly
more
measurable today. But by 1931 sufficient funds were not forthcoming for
the continuance of the Committee on a satisfactory basis and its
usefulness
came to an end a little later.
After this Committee ceased to
exist,.
a Standing Conference on London Regional Planning was constituted by
the
Minister of Health and it held its first meeting in October, 1937. The
area of the work of this conference was defined as being the London
Traffic
Area. It was composed of one or two representatives from each of the
County
Councils, the City of London and the County Boroughs, two
representatives
from the Association of Municipal Corporations, two from the Urban
District
Councils’ Association and two from the Rural District Councils’
Association,
and also a representative of the Ministry of Health. Sir Kingsley Wood,
the Minister of Health, stated at that meeting that the new Conference
would differ from the old Committee in that it was not to be asked to
consider
and make proposals for the planning of the region ab initio but only to
consider such questions as might be referred to it. He suggested that
the
most convenient method for the Conference would be to appoint a
technical
committee, composed of the officers of representative authorities, who
would make reports to the Conference on the referred questions.
The meeting appointed a Technical
Committee
composed of the appropriate Chief Technical Officer of each constituent
council, three nominated Municipal Engineers, representing the
Boroughs,
Urban Districts and Rural Districts respectively, and the Deputy Chief
Town Planning Inspector of the Ministry of Health. From time to time
the
Standing Conference, by means of the Technical Committee, dealt with
various
matters referred to it, but it was not until shortly before the
outbreak
of war that it was able to get from the Ministry of Health approval of
their decision to ask the Technical Committee to consider and report to
them on:
(a) ways and means of
preparing
a Regional or Master Plan for the London Region; and
(b) the possibility of
establishing
an agricultural belt around London.
By this time the preparations for
war
made it impossible for the Technical Committee to function, and before
they were able to resume their labours, two further important events
occurred.
In 1941 the Minister of Works and
Buildings
asked the L.C.C. to prepare a Plan (published last year as the County
of
London Plan 1943) and in 1942 he asked the Standing Conference if they
would agree (which they did) to his appointing an expert to prepare an
Outline Plan and Report for Greater London. The Minister’s instructions
included a direction that the plan was to be prepared in collaboration
with the Technical Committee of the Standing Conference. With this,
collaboration,
assured, free, and fruitful over the period of preparation, and with
the
Plan now submitted, there may be permitted the hope that a new and
necessary
unity in the planning of this vital region may at length begin to take
shape.