Patrick Abercrombie
Greater London Plan 1944
Preamble
Excerpt from: Greater London Plan 1944, by Patrick Abercrombie, His Majesty's Stationery Office, London 1945

 
 

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THE POLICY AIMED AT IN THE DETAILED MOVEMENT OF POPULATION AND WORK

Such is the supporting framework or canvas upon which a more detailed plan is to be drawn. And great as are the difficulties of transport provision (including as they do the handling of an old problem - daily short-distance and through long-distance - and the creation of a completely new system - by air): enormous as is the need to protect agricultural productivity: and vital as is the preservation of the recreative reservoir of country and pure air; nevertheless, it is the regrouping of population and industry that is the real task of this Plan for Greater London. Working with the Barlow contention that London is too large, or at any rate large enough, some detailed attempt must be made to redistribute the population and industry within the region, as well as consider what might leave it.
But here the planner of Outer London senses two streams of thought in this twin objective of home and work. The inner authorities (i.e., the L.C.C. and the adjacent over-dense Boroughs) are chiefly concerned to render their working quarters really healthy, convenient and pleasant. To do this they must decentralise. To those that leave them, they have the duty of seeing that so far as is possible they take their work with them, or at any rate move to a place where they can engage upon similar work to that which they have left behind. Everyone, of course, generally knows, and certain minute investigations have proved, how complex and gradual this process is. The emphasis is on the People.
But there is another approach, in which the emphasis is on Occupation. Here the custodians of our industrial prosperity are studying where industry is wanted; it may be the balancing of a lopsided or one-track area; it may be the rehabilitation of a depressed area; it may again be aimed at making use of a pool of available labour; or it may be finding purchasers for war factories likely to be suitable for civilian industry. In general, this approach might be said to lead further afield than the other.
We have endeavoured to meet both these approaches and though our concern is primarily within the region, we have made some more tentative suggestions for dispersal of two types, beyond. A national policy for industrial distribution will naturally modify or supersede these.
Within the whole of London (both inner and outer) there may be said to be two types of population movement both mainly centrifugal (these are alluded to in assumption 2). They might be called Sporadic and Mass Decentralisation, the first unconscious, the second organised; both have existed in the past and both should be used in the future. There has been a steady stream of people leaving older built-up London for the newer suburbs, and there have been large; scale L.C.C. housing schemes outside the L.C.C. boundary, the largest being that of Becontree.
There has been a tendency to maintain that the unconscious trek outwards gives some sort of measure of the size of the mass movement. Thus, if 50,000 people per annum left London dispersedly in ten years, that is equivalent to a mass move of half a million from the East End. This is a misleading picture; the sporadic move is of all sorts and conditions of men, changing their abode for all sorts of reasons-not merely dissatisfaction with a slum dwelling. If half a million were moved from Central London as part of an organised scheme, with accompanying industry and to properly prepared reception areas, it would represent an infinitely larger conception and achievement both quantitatively and qualitatively.
But we envisage the continuance of both these movements, the sporadic probably on a smaller scale, but the mass on a greatly increased scale.

SPORADIC MOVEMENT OR OSCILLATION: SPECULATIVE BUILDING: VILLAGES

It is perhaps advisable to consider this sporadic movement before the greater and more spectacular methodical decentralisation. We have called it an Oscillation, because rightly considered, it is by no means only an outward move (though the preponderance has been in that direction) but a movement in and out and to and fro within town and suburb. It represents that margin for free and individual movement which must always exist in a human community, a margin either of vacant houses or sites. Some people put the figure as a percentage of the total population - e.g., between 5 and 10%; we have approached it from the opposite end by finding out what are the sites throughout the Region which can be used without over-balancing existing suburban communities. For it must be obvious from the major premises upon which this Plan is based, that large scale speculative building with almost unlimited choice of site is no longer to continue.
There was round London, indeed in full swing, an orgy of house building based upon the anticipation that the metropolis would continue sucking in an altogether undue proportion of the country’s population growth. The measure of this ubiquitous supply can be taken by means of a survey of the unfinished schemes which the outbreak of war suddenly stopped. This has been done with great care in the three rings, the Suburban, the Green Belt and the Open, and the result shows the numbers of vacant frontages which are ready for building with roads partly or wholly made up, and services either laid on or readily obtained.
The total figure for all three rings represents accommodation available for 386,000 people: there are enough of all types of sites, at all normal densities, in all parts of Greater London for all the varied needs of this sporadic decentralisation or oscillation. The figure, it will be noted, represents about 4% of the total population, and allowing for a proportion of this unmethodical movement being included in the planned groups, should suffice for many years.
It will be seen that the figure of 386,000 does not represent an increase in London’s population, except for that of natural fertility, which if national trends continue and are representative also of London, could be covered by it.
When it is stated that beyond the filling up of vacant frontages large scale speculative building on speculatively chosen sites must cease, this does not mean that there will not be a demand for houses for London, both for internal re-building and external decentralisation. There will be almost unlimited scope for every type of agency for house building of the right type and on the right places, under the right guidance.
It might be asked whether these vacant frontages on unfinished speculative housing sites restrict the freedom of choice which people already exercise. The answer is threefold: firstly, they are the sites and surroundings (many of them very attractive) to which individual choice was limited in the past, and they are to be found in every district in Greater London; secondly, it is an essential recommendation of our scheme that these slabs of housing should be welded into real communities, their ragged edges rounded off, social and shopping centres properly planned, and local green belts provided. Buildings often undistinguished and degraded in architectural appearance will indeed remain: but nature assists the gardener and time will perhaps soften even their asperities; thirdly, it would be economically wasteful not to make use of these road works and public services: it would be equally foolish to allow any further development of new sites until these frontages are substantially built up.
In addition to these housing areas, many attached to older communities, some having already swamped small places, and others standing in open country or ribboning along roads, there are many old villages which have so far retained their integrity. To allow additions to these as part of the programme of oscillation and freedom of choice is dangerous, even though these additions would be on frontages within the village enceinte (and not external additions to it). It would be difficult to prohibit all building except for agricultural purposes: at the same time there should be no free entry sites and every permission should be scrutinised most closely on architectural as well as social grounds. The old unspoilt villages and country towns are an asset of first importance to London.

METHODICAL OR MASS DECENTRALISATION AND DISPERSAL

The disposition of the total figure for mass regrouping of the population of slightly over one million (see sec. 18) has been allotted under five broad headings. The allotment has not been made arbitrarily or theoretically (except for one item) but has been based upon the sums of individual and almost minute calculations, finally adjusted in order to keep certain broad principles in view.
As to the destination of this mass-decentralised population, it will be useful to state the figures in their simplest form before describing in greater detail how they are made up.
It will be seen that this sub-division and destination of decentralised population corresponds closely with that suggested in Chapter 2. of the County of London Plan. with the exception that in this regional study we are naturally not concerned with the possible completion of schemes within the County of London area. Also it must be pointed out that the third type (in the County of London Plan), i.e.. “Satellites located within the Metropolitan Traffic Area”, has been subdivided for purposes of more detailed study into “Additions to Existing Towns”, and “New Sites”, and refers to the Outer Country Ring of the Greater London area. The two headings (a) and (b) above are now discussed in a little more detail.

TABLE
(a) Decentralisation In and Near the Region
(i) Addition to existing Towns .261,000 persons
(ii) New Sites 383,250 persons
(iii) Quasi-Satellites ...125,000 persons
Total: 769,250 persons
(b) Dispersal Outside the Region
(iv) Additions to Towns within a 50-mile radius ...163,750 persons
(v) Beyond the Metropolitan influence 100,000
Total: 263,750 persons
Total number of regrouped population 1,033,000 persons
(This may be compared with the number of 1,232,750 which would be the total figure for the regrouped population if the lower density of 100 persons per acre were adopted for the central area).

DECENTRALISATION IN AND NEAR THE REGION: APPLICATION TO EXISTING COMMUNITIES: NEW SITES: QUASI-SATELLITES

Perhaps more time and thought has been given to the effect upon and aptitude of existing towns for receiving both additional population and industry than to any other aspect of this work. Some of the factors concerned are given in sec. 110. With so many and so different places, it is impossible to summarise the various reasons for these figures: the details will be found in Chapter 10. In some cases it is a “rounding off” of a community that appears all that is desirable: in others a direct addition can be planned: some places are capable of large expansion, others of a much smaller amount: in some, again, the expansion will not take place in, or be added to, the town itself, but will take the form of a series of smaller satellites, like moons around a planet. In every case the addition is large enough to allow of a community group based upon the standards which we have adopted. In this a sharp distinction is drawn between mass and sporadic movement; oscillation may continue to occur in the same place, filling up the single sites of vacant frontages. In many cases these additions may occur upon land already zoned for houses and industry; but in nearly every case some revision of the statutory schemes (in whatever stage they are) will be necessary, as in common with planning schemes throughout the country, far too much land was zoned for building development. It is better to zone fairly tightly and revise schemes if unexpected growth can be justified, than to leave so large a margin that neither systematic location nor ultimate size can be even approximately foreseen. Oscillation also provides a margin, so that there should be no danger of over-tightness.
The choosing of sites for new communities is always an exhilarating side of the planner’s work: it is impossible to escape from the sequel that opportunity is to be offered for the creation of a town which will embody the latest ideas of civic design. The London Region is fortunate in possessing two such new communities, Letchworth and Welwyn, both due to the genius of the late Ebenezer Howard. Recent research tends towards a somewhat larger unit than Howard proposed: but no increase in density. The population figure which we have adopted is 60,000 as a maximum: this would suggest seven New Towns as within the London Region, but as in the case of several sites, there are populations already on the ground (but not large enough to constitute an enlargement of an existing place, as described in the preceding paragraph) there would be eight of these new communities in the London Region. On the plans accompanying this Report ten possible sites are shown from which the eight proposed could be selected. The others would allow a certain amount of latitude in the ultimate selection of sites and would also be sufficient to meet increased decentralisation from the central areas if the lower density of 100 were adopted. In order to arrive at sites which can be recommended from the industrial development aspect and which do not unduly offend against agricultural requirements or invade rural amenities which are necessary to London as a whole, we have examined sites in the Outer Country Ring. It is perhaps needless to add that the sites which we have chosen are capable of economic layout and can be provided with the necessary public services. We have made a study for a New Town on one of these sites.
In all schemes for planning there are certain urgent decisions or works which have to be put in hand, perhaps before the plan is completed, and at any rate before the comprehensive carrying out of it can be begun. In spite of the decision made to push all large scale new building beyond the Green Belt zone, there are certain towns situated within it which can make out a case for some continued growth for a limited period till their planned size is reached. Another exception is found in the necessity for overcrowded Inner London to start decentralising simultaneously with rebuilding immediately on the cessation of hostilities. For this first step sites must be found which satisfy two apparently contradictory requirements: they must be near enough to their former places of work for an easy journey, and they must have present or future possibilities of work near by. Owing to the time-lag between human and industrial movement (described in sec. 56) this work should be already existing in, or likely to come into existence at an early date in a neighbouring town. On the face of it these quasi-satellites offend against all notions of planned decentralisation: they are, in the first instance, residential and they are too close in. Nevertheless they are necessary features of the short-term policy of immediate post-war housing requirements; the maximum figure of 125,000 has been allotted for the purpose.
Eventually, wherever possible, these quasi-metropolitan satellites, becoming socially and industrially integrated with the older communities near which they are situated, will fall into that system of “moon satellites” already alluded to.

POPULATION DISPERSED OUTSIDE THE REGION

It is not possible to prosecute equally detailed studies outside the Region, but there was unmistakable evidence that industrialists and workpeople are prepared, if they move at all, to go as far as 50 miles without wholly losing the benefits of the metropolitan connection: there may be certain business and transport advantages in being closer to other industrial centres, such as Birmingham. It will be seen that we have allotted a smaller figure to those 50-mile radius towns than to the existing towns within the Region.
The population that may leave London altogether migrating for example to Yorkshire or South Wales is highly problematic. It is possible that in this case alone industry will prove more movable than persons. On the other hand, some of those who have come into the London area since 1925 may be ready to return to their homes when employment there is available. The figure of 100,000 might be composed chiefly of key-workers and their families.

THE DECENTRALISING BOROUGHS AND THE SUBURBAN RING

The same detailed study has been made of the County and Municipal Boroughs which require their densities reduced and the communities in the suburban ring which (with the exception of vacant frontages) have no land which should be used for further building, except for reducing local overcrowding. The general characteristics of both these areas have been described (see secs. 26 and 27).

INDUSTRIAL LOCATION COMPARED WITH HOUSING

Emphasis in the preceding paragraphs may appear to have been laid upon persons involved in various types of new locations, both decentralised and dispersed. But of course these are never to be considered apart from occupation: our concern is primarily with the “distribution of the Industrial Population”, although the London Region will never cease to be the home of the retired and the leisured (if there are any in the future). Occupation in the Region, too, is likely to be not only industrial but clerical. A great deal of thought has been given to this, and much knowledge has been gained from the Barlow Report (including the Evidence), the work of the Nuffield Research and personal help from the Board of Trade and their Regional Officers. The local factors of location are complicated: not only is it necessary to study the causes which have operated, almost unchecked, up to the present, from which it would seem that Rivers, Roads and Railways have been the most cogent determinants: thus some ideas can be gained of what appear to be the most suitable sites for each type of industry likely to be moved out. But it is also desirable to see that these sites are not unnecessarily far from the populations to be removed. In planned decentralisation there will always be a certain time-lag between persons and factories - industry may voluntarily go there first, as at Slough - more often people are moved and gradually factories follow, as at Becontree. For the power of dealing with the location of people has been in operation to some extent for a long time (under municipal enterprise): whereas we have still no effective control over the location of industry. On the other hand, the speculative builder, the largest purveyor of houses in the past, by having a free choice as to where he would operate, thereby also exercised control over where people lived. They had indeed a choice of speculative sites-which was wide-but nevertheless imposed upon them, as was also the type and size of house. The speculative builder was himself frequently dependent upon transport, again acting in its own interests. Thus the rapidity or slowness of the growth of a place would be determined for private ends: the freedom of the developer was the measure of the public’s limitation of choice.
It is only when detailed study is given to the harmonising of human and industrial movement that the extreme complexities appear. It is no matter of a neat transference of a works and its workers, say from West Ham to a Country site in Essex. Many of the people in one borough work in the factories situated in another: the occupations of the members of one family are frequently totally different. Nevertheless a broad policy of the movement of people and work can and must be pursued. But it must be recognised that it will take a considerable time for the final adjustments to be made. The sudden transference of a solid block of workers from one place, into an old established town with set traditions and occupation, might at first upset its balance and create a sort of alien colony most harmful to the social , structure.
A scheme of decentralisation of this magnitude is a policy which must be pursued with persistence and vigour, but also with discretion and sympathy for natural human feelings and weaknesses.
As part of the Regional administrative machinery not only will it be necessary to have an officer administering whatever powers of persuasions there may be for the location of industry, but an equally important social or population director who can keep the human side uppermost and who can keep watch that the spirit of the scheme for regional grouping of the population is carried out.

DETAILED STUDIES

We have made certain detailed studies, merely as examples of what is meant by local action in completing or filling in the details within our broad framework. These are intended to illustrate some of the typical problems of the Region.
Firstly, a design for a new town on an open site. It may be interesting to compare this with the existing and successful “new” town of Welwyn Garden City.
Secondly, an attempt to pull together a scattered development of industry loosely related to the old town of Hatfield. The de Havilland factory is on the Barnet By-Pass; another on an island site at its intersection with the North Orbital; an isolated factory appears in the fields beyond. Flats and slabs of housing spring up wherever a site is obtainable; there is no proper connection with the old town, beyond which is one of the greatest houses and parks in the country, safeguarded for ever against development: a strange mixture of modem disorder and ancient order. To produce a unified community it has been necessary to suggest a small amount of demolition and a certain amount of additional growth. Again, a comparison may be made with Welwyn Garden City which grew up simultaneously with new Hatfield.
Thirdly, the rebuilding proposals at a reduced density of two areas of one of the boroughs requiring decentralisation, which has also suffered large scale damage at enemy hands.

STANDARDS

In addition to detailed studies of certain places, there are necessary detailed standards for general application throughout the Region. Much work has been recently done and much remains to be done in establishing some basis of calculation for the larger components of communities, for density of houses, area for open space, public buildings, etc. - the units into which they can be divided for various functions: for social and civic centres, for schools of different grades, for shopping centres of varying types, for markets, for hospitals, etc. Perhaps the most obviously important is the optimum size of a satellite community of a fully equipped type: its population and the acreage which it should cover. Ebenezer Howard, a pioneer in this as in every other walk of civic advance, proposed a population of 30,000: recent research based upon all known factors suggests something more like double this figure.
These standards ate put forward as applicable strictly to the London Regional Area; for although a junior school might well serve the same area in Gloucester, Manchester or London [the one-hundred thousand, million and ten million urban centres], the presence of the Metropolis inevitably affects such requirements as those for hospitals, shopping, markets, theatres, art galleries, museums, etc.
The housing densities adopted are based upon the method of calculation given in the County of London Report. There is no greater net density than 100 persons per acre: the adoption of this and 75 in the Urban Ring and 50 in the Suburban produce the decentralisation figure to be added to that given by the County of London Plan. For new sites an overall net density of 30 has been taken, combined with a maximum net density of 50 persons per acre.

PUBLIC SERVICES

The very large shift of population proposed within the Region will have a marked effect upon the provision of public services. It has already been stated that in spite of a smaller and less dense population in the East End and on the Surrey side of London, the modem types of building, which according to the proposals of the Plan will be universal in a comparatively short time, will consume more water than the more densely packed buildings in the past. The conservation of pure water is vital: the policy of rushing it to the sea as something to be got rid of, in order to secure better land drainage for agriculture, should be qualified by the need to secure adequate supplies for London.
There is already a great measure of co-ordination of services-water, electricity, gas, telephones, drainage and sewage disposal; but these services had in some cases been framed upon an expectation of unlimited growth, or at any rate upon a different policy of population grouping. They should, at the earliest moment possible, be re-examined. It is hoped that very few schemes have been put ill hand which this Plan will render abortive; but it is clear that the settling of nearly half a million people in new satellites will tax the resources and the resourcefulness of the purveyors of public services very considerably. At any rate, if this or a modified plan is acted upon in place of no plan, they will have a programme of requirements arranged in periods, upon which to base their calculations.