New towns in the United Kingdom
Below is a list of some of the new towns in the United Kingdom created in the 20th century under the various New Town Acts. Some earlier towns were developed as garden cities or overspill estates early in the 20th century. The new towns proper were planned under the powers of the New Towns Act 1946 and later acts to relocate population in poor or bombed-out housing following the Second World War. They were not completely new, but developed around historic cores. Later developments included the expanded towns: existing towns which were substantially expanded to accommodate what was called the "overspill" population from densely populated areas of deprivation.
Designated new towns were removed from local authority control and placed under the supervision of a development corporation. These corporations were later disbanded and their assets split between local authorities and, in England, the Commission for New Towns (later English Partnerships).
The lack of social ties experienced by some residents of the new towns has given rise to the notion of "new town blues".[1][2]
Garden cities
- Letchworth, Hertfordshire (founded in 1903 through the Garden city movement).
- Welwyn Garden City, Hertfordshire (founded in 1920 through the Garden city movement).
Overspill estates
- Out-county London County Council housing developments, of which Becontree, Redbridge, was the largest. It was built in the 1920s and 1930s.
- Wythenshawe was built on what used to be Cheshire land in the 1920s as a Manchester overspill estate, but was not completed until the early 1970s. Other Manchester overspill estates include Hattersley, Gamesley, and Haughton Green.
- Castlemilk, Drumchapel, Easterhouse and Pollok in Glasgow.
- Castle Vale in Birmingham, which was built in the 1960s in the extreme north-east of the city.
England
First wave
The first wave was intended to help alleviate the housing shortages following the Second World War, beyond the green belt around London. A couple of sites in County Durham were also designated. These designations were made under the New Towns Act 1946.
- Stevenage, Hertfordshire (designated 11 November 1946)[3]
- Crawley, Sussex (designated 9 January 1947)[4]
- Hemel Hempstead, Hertfordshire (designated 4 February 1947)[5]
- Harlow, Essex (designated 25 March 1947)[6]
- Newton Aycliffe, County Durham (designated 19 April 1947 as Aycliffe New Town)[7]
- Peterlee, County Durham (designated 10 March 1948, as Easington New Town)[8]
- Welwyn Garden City and Hatfield, Hertfordshire (both designated 20 May 1948)[9]
- Basildon, Essex (designated 4 January 1949)[10]
- Bracknell, Berkshire (designated 17 June 1949)[11]
- Corby, Northamptonshire (designated 1 April 1950)[12]
Second wave
The second wave (1961–64) was likewise initiated to alleviate housing shortfalls. Two of the locations below (Redditch and Dawley New Town — later renamed Telford) are situated near the West Midlands conurbation; another two (Runcorn and Skelmersdale) are near Merseyside and were intended as overspill for the city of Liverpool.
- Skelmersdale, Lancashire (designated 9 October 1961)[13]
- Telford, Shropshire (designated 16 January 1963)[14]
- Redditch, Worcestershire (designated 10 April 1964)[15]
- Runcorn, Cheshire (designated 10 April 1964)[16]
- Washington, Tyne and Wear (designated 24 July 1964)[17]
Many towns such as Cramlington, Killingworth, and Tamworth were expanded from the 1960s by local authorities, but were not designated new towns.
Third wave
The third and last wave of new towns (1967–70) allowed for additional growth chiefly further north from the previous London new towns, with a few developments between Liverpool and Manchester, namely "Central Lancashire" and Warrington. Dawley New Town was redesignated as Telford New Town, with a much larger area, as overspill for Birmingham and nearby towns including Wolverhampton. About halfway between Birmingham and London was the new town of Milton Keynes (which took its name from a village in the area, but also swallowed up existing towns Newport Pagnell and Bletchley), while nearer to Birmingham, the existing town of Northampton was expanded. In East Anglia, the existing town of Peterborough was designated as a new town to accommodate overspill from London.
Although not officially a new town, the expansion of Tamworth in Staffordshire (some 15 miles north of Birmingham) during the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s mirrored that of a new or expanded town, and it was mostly populated by people who had previously lived in or near Birmingham.
The Milton Keynes Development Corporation was founded on the creation of the new town in 1967, to assist with developing and attracting investors the town for the first 25 years of its existence, finally being wound up in 1992. One goal of the development corporation was to attract a professional football club to the town as its population grew, although the area was already home to a few non-league clubs. London based Charlton Athletic, whose support had diminished in the face of more successful London clubs since their relegation from the Football League First Division in 1957, were the first club to be approached about relocating to Milton Keynes, but nothing came of it. Ron Noades briefly considering relocating Wimbledon F.C. to Milton Keynes just after their election to the Football League in 1979, while a few years later Luton Town's plans to relocate from the Bedfordshire town some 15 miles away fell through. By the year 2000, however, Wimbledon FC were once again considering relocation to Milton Keynes, and this time the move became reality; permission to relocate was given by the Football League in May 2002 and they became temporary tenants of the National Hockey Stadium (built in Milton Keynes in 1998) until Stadium mk was completed in the city during 2007. The venue originally had 22,000 seats but has since been expanded to hold more than 30,000 spectators.
- Milton Keynes, Buckinghamshire (designated 23 January 1967)[18]
- Peterborough, Cambridgeshire (designated 21 July 1967)[19]
- Northampton, Northamptonshire (designated 14 February 1968)[20]
- Warrington, Cheshire (designated 26 April 1968)[21]
- Telford, Shropshire (designated 29 November 1968)[22]
- Central Lancashire, Lancashire (designated 26 March 1970)[23]
Modern developments
No new towns have been formally designated since 1970, but several new towns (in the literal sense) have been founded:
- Cambourne, Cambridgeshire
- South Woodham Ferrers, Essex
- Ebbsfleet, Kent
- Wixams, Bedfordshire
- Sherford, Devon (planned)
- Northstowe, Cambridgeshire (planned)
Poundbury is an experimental new town or urban extension on the outskirts of Dorchester. The development is built on land owned by the Duchy of Cornwall. It is built according to the principles of Prince Charles, who is known for holding strong views challenging the post-war trends in town planning that were suburban in character.
Future developments
On 13 May 2007, chancellor Gordon Brown, who became Prime Minister of the United Kingdom the following month, announced he would designate 10 new "eco-towns" to ease demand for low-cost housing. The towns, around 20,000 population each — at least 5,000 homes — are planned to be "carbon-neutral" and will use locally generated sustainable-energy sources. Only one site was identified in the announcement: the former Oakington Barracks in Cambridgeshire - the already planned Northstowe development. Local councils will be invited to provide sites for the remaining four towns.[24]
The Town and Country Planning Association is advising the government on the criteria and best practice in developing the eco-towns by producing a series of "worksheets" for developers.
In September 2014 the CBI called for all political parties to commit to building 10 new towns and garden cities to get to grips with the country's housing shortage.[25]
Wales
Modern developments
- Coed Darcy (in progress)
- Tircoed
Scotland
Six new towns in Scotland were designated between 1955 and 1973, mostly for the overspill population of Glasgow.
Cumbernauld also became home to Clyde Football Club, originally based in Glasgow, when they relocated to the new Broadwood Stadium in the town in 1994. A year later, Livingston became the home of Edinburgh based Meadowbank Thistle, who were renamed Livingston F.C. in recognition of their new location. The owners of both clubs had felt that it was unsustainable for the clubs to remain in their original locations due to the difficulty in attracting a viable fan base, and saw the new towns as the best option for creating an adequate fan base.
- Cumbernauld (designated 9 December 1955,[28] extended 19 March 1973)[29]
- East Kilbride (designated 6 May 1947)[30]
- Glenrothes (designated 30 June 1948)[31]
- Irvine (designated 9 November 1966)[32]
- Livingston (designated 16 April 1962)[33]
- Stonehouse (designated 17 July 1973, never built)[34]
Modern developments
- Ravenscraig (in progress)
- Chapelton of Elsick (in Progress)
Future developments
- An Camas Mor - new settlement proposed in the Cairngorms National Park
- Blindwells - new settlement proposed adjacent to Tranent in East Lothian
- Calderwell - new settlement proposed adjacent to East Calder and Livingston in West Lothian
- Durieshill - new settlement proposed in Stirling Council area adjacent to Plean
- Forestmill - new settlement proposed in Clackmannanshire in close proximity to the Fife Council administrative boundary
- Oudenarde - new settlement proposed adjacent to the Bridge of Earn in Perthshire
- Owenstown - new settlement proposed in the South Lanarkshire area to the south of Lanark
- Shawfair - new settlement proposed in SE Edinburgh spanning the City of Edinburgh Council and Midlothian Council administrative boundaries
- Tornagrain - new settlement proposed to the south of Inverness Airport in the Highland Council area
Northern Ireland
The New Towns Act (Northern Ireland) 1965 gave the Minister of Development of the Government of Northern Ireland the power to designate an area as a new town, and to appoint a development commission. An order could be made to transfer municipal functions of all or part of any existing local authorities to the commission, which took the additional title of urban district council, although unelected. This was done in the case of Craigavon.
The New Towns Amendment Act (Northern Ireland) 1968 was passed to enable the establishment of the Londonderry Development Commission to replace the County Borough and rural district of Londonderry, and implement the Londonderry Area Plan. On 3 April 1969, the development commission took over the municipal functions of the two councils, the area becoming Londonderry Urban District.
See also
Notes
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- ↑ The London Gazette: no. 37785. p. 5536. 12 November 1946. Retrieved 2007-10-30.
- ↑ The London Gazette: no. 37849. p. 231. 10 January 1947. Retrieved 2007-10-30.
- ↑ The London Gazette: no. 37875. p. 664. 7 February 1947. Retrieved 2007-10-30.
- ↑ The London Gazette: no. 37918. p. 1451. 28 March 1947. Retrieved 2007-10-30.
- ↑ The London Gazette: no. 37940. p. 1858. 25 April 1947. Retrieved 2007-10-30.
- ↑ The London Gazette: no. 38235. p. 1819. 12 March 1948. Retrieved 2007-10-30.
- ↑ The London Gazette: no. 38299. p. 3136. 25 May 1948. Retrieved 2007-10-30.
- ↑ The London Gazette: no. 38507. p. 145. 7 January 1949. Retrieved 2007-10-30.
- ↑ The London Gazette: no. 38647. p. 3078. 21 June 1949. Retrieved 2007-10-30.
- ↑ The London Gazette: no. 38878. p. 1671. 4 April 1950. Retrieved 2007-10-30.
- ↑ The London Gazette: no. 42484. p. 7296. 10 October 1961. Retrieved 2007-10-30.
- ↑ The London Gazette: no. 42898. p. 589. 18 January 1963. Retrieved 2007-10-30.
- ↑ The London Gazette: no. 43296. p. 3202. 14 April 1964. Retrieved 2007-10-30.
- ↑ The London Gazette: no. 43296. p. 3201. 14 April 1964. Retrieved 2007-10-30.
- ↑ The London Gazette: no. 43394. p. 6416. 28 July 1964. Retrieved 2007-10-30.
- ↑ The London Gazette: no. 44233. p. 827. 24 January 1967. Retrieved 2007-10-30.
- ↑ The London Gazette: no. 44377. p. 8515. 1 August 1967. Retrieved 2007-10-30.
- ↑ The London Gazette: no. 44529. pp. 2088–2089. 20 February 1968. Retrieved 2007-10-30.
- ↑ The London Gazette: no. 44576. p. 4907. 30 April 1968. Retrieved 2007-10-30.
- ↑ The London Gazette: no. 44735. p. 13433. 13 December 1968. Retrieved 2007-10-30.
- ↑ The London Gazette: no. 45079. p. 4187. 14 April 1970. Retrieved 2007-10-30.
- ↑ Brown to build ten eco towns, The Times Online, 13 May 2007
- ↑ CBI Calls For 10 New Towns and Garden Cities
- ↑ The London Gazette: no. 38756. p. 5318. 8 November 1949. Retrieved 2007-10-30.
- ↑ The London Gazette: no. 44482. p. 14168. 28 December 1967. Retrieved 2007-10-30.
- ↑ The Edinburgh Gazette: no. 17351. p. 746. 13 December 1955. Retrieved 2007-10-30.
- ↑ The Edinburgh Gazette: no. 19218. p. 398. 19 March 1973. Retrieved 2007-10-30.
- ↑ The Edinburgh Gazette: no. 16436. p. 189. 9 May 1947. Retrieved 2007-10-30.
- ↑ The Edinburgh Gazette: no. 16556. pp. 299–300. 2 July 1948. Retrieved 2007-10-30.
- ↑ The Edinburgh Gazette: no. 18509. p. 846. 11 November 1966. Retrieved 2007-10-30.
- ↑ The Edinburgh Gazette: no. 18025. pp. 236–237. 17 April 1962. Retrieved 2007-10-30.
- ↑ The Edinburgh Gazette: no. 19294. p. 951. 14 August 1973. Retrieved 2007-10-30.
- ↑ The Belfast Gazette: no. 2317. p. 274. 6 August 1965. Retrieved 2007-10-30.
- ↑ [1] A commentary by the Government of Northern Ireland to accompany the Cameron Report incorporating an account of progress and a programme of action (CAIN web service)
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