New Towns Act
One of the first acts passed in then Prime Minister Clement Attlee's postwar Labour government,
was the New Towns Act of 1946.
Amongst the many aims of the Act was to create 'overspill' new towns in an
effort to alleviate the overcrowding problems in London following the second world war and the
damage inflicted on its already ageing residential developments.
In November of the same year, Stevenage in Hertfordshire became the first
of eight designated 'new towns' between 1946 and 1951.
Official Confirmation
In 1948 the government granted provisional approval for Basildon to
follow suit. Lewis Silkin, minister of town and country planning, came to Laindon in September
1948 and addressed a large gathering with the words "Basildon will become a city which people
from all over the world will want to visit. It will be a place where all classes of community
can meet freely together on equal terms and enjoy common cultural recreational facilities."
On January 4th 1949 he officially designated Basildon a 'new town'.
The story and planning
of this began many years earlier. At the time of the designation order the designated area of
7,818* acres (some sources 8,834 acres) had a population of around 25,000, mainly concentrated in the existing settlements
of Laindon/Langdon Hills, Lee Chapel, Pitsea and Vange. Within the Basildon area were around
8,500 properties, of which a large proportion, 5,600, were below the Housing Act standard. A
high proportion were not connected to the main sewer. Vehicular access was also very poor, with
the district having 78 miles of unmade roads.
For centuries the land was farmed extensively, but
as the farming industry faced an agricultural depression in the late 1870s large pockets of land
were sold off to enterprising land companys who offered cheap plots at auction. All this had
been made possible by the arrival of the London, Tilbury and Southend Railway which saw stations
open, firstly at Pitsea, in 1855, and Laindon in 1888, when a new direct route from Barking to
Pitsea was completed. Within a short few years a scattered plotland development had emerged at
both Pitsea and Laindon.
Early Years
In February 1949 the government appointed Basildon Development Corporation
was formed; its task, to transform the designated area into a modern new town. A Master Plan
was drawn up for an expected population of 80,000, though this was later revised to 106,000. Building
work soon began and, in 1951 the first new tenants moved into homes built at Redgrave Road
in Vange. By 1953 the 1,000 new house had been completed. Work on creating an Industrial area
at Nevendon had also begun with the first new factory operational as early as 1951.
Some parts of the town required extensive drainage to the landscape - most notable at the area
that became Gloucester Park - and this was not considered idealy suitable for a large scale
development. Much of the excavated spoil; consisting mainly of London Clay, was used to create
artificial hills at various sites around the town, including Gloucester Park and the site
of the first Pitsea refuse tip.
Compulsory
Purchase Order
In order to create the space in which to build future estates
it was first necessary to clear the areas of properties deemed to be an obstruction. In some
cases the job was straightforward when the occupier chose to sell to the corporation, but this
was not always the case and, there are many instances when the corporation used its power and
issued a compulsory purchase order on the property. The right of Freehold became an issue and
a residents protection group was formed to advise and in some cases fight against these
orders. The corporation was accused of paying derisory amounts of compensation and development
was often held up during these times. Many existing residents were naturally dismayed to find
that the property that they had built themselves now stood in the way of progress. In some
instances where the original occupier held out, development had to be altered to then fit in
with the existing property. Further problems were encountered by the corporation in
establishing ownership of some of the plots; some never developed, and others long since
abandoned.
Education
Before 1949 there were already established schools in the designated area
like Markhams Chase, Langdon Hills, Pitsea, Craylands and Nevendon. To cater for the growing
population new schools were built, and this began when Swan Mead infant and junior opened
in 1954. Whitmore infant and junior followed soon after, and at secondary level Fryerns
Grammar and Technical School took in its first pupils in 1956. A second Grammar school,
Barstable, opened in 1962, and in 1965 Chalvedon became the first Comprehensive to open.
Roads
Work on an inner Basildon road structure took much longer, made
in part more difficult by the London, Tilbury and Southend railway line, which bisects the
town. Two of the existing railway bridges at Woottens Lane and Shelley Road close to the eventual site of
the town centre were widened during the creation of Nether Mayne and the Clay Hill Road
extension. This allowed through access to Southernhay, which had earlier opened in
1957. The main Roundacre roundabout became fully operational in early 1959 sometime after the
completion of the direct Laindon/Basildon road; Laindon Link.
Shops
In 1949 at the time of designation there were close to 300 shops serving the
area. They were mainly concentrated in the High Road at Laindon and Langdon Hills and along
the old A13 route at Vange and Pitsea. New shopping amenities, though high on the development
agenda, were slow to appear and these existing shops provided the best service for the early new
town 'pioneers'. A series of neighbourhood shopping centres gradually appeared beginning in
the Fryerns area until the eventual completion of the first phase of Basildon Town Centre, where
the first shops began opening in August 1958. The Basildon market followed soon after and by
1965, when the Development Corporation once again revised their master plan for a proposed
140,000 population, the town centre had expanded to over 150 shops.
The 1960s
By the early 1960s the new town comprised
ten neighbourhoods. These being: Pitsea, Laindon, Langdon Hills, Vange, Lee Chapel South and
North, Fryerns, Ghyllgrove, Barstable and Kingswood.
The development corporation had, by
March 1964, completed nearly 12,000 houses, including some for private occupation, but they
were not the only house builder in the new town. Since the second world war the local urban
district council had provided 1,432 new homes to March 1964, and by May 1966 total ownership
stood at 1,640.
Work in other areas was also continuing apace, and the 1960s saw Ford
open a new purpose built Tractor Plant on a 100 acre site at Cranes Farm Road in 1964, and in
1967 their Research and Engineering centre at Dunton was opened by the Prime Minister of the
day, Harold Wilson. Another major employer, cosmetic giant Yardley, relocated to Basildon in
1966 to further improve the local industry.
Recreational and leisure facilities within the
town were also addressed during the decade, with the Mecca run 'Locarno' dance hall opening in
1961, followed by a 26 lane bowling alley at Southernhay in 1962. A temporary Arts Centre
theatre opened in 1967, and in 1968 the town's new championship size swimming pool at Gloucester
Park was completed.
Shops around the town had greatly increased, with Lee Chapel North and South now both having
their own neighbourhood centre, and as the 1960s drew to a close work on the shopping centre at Laindon was at an
advanced stage.
The 1970s to the present
Development continued into the 1970s when in 1971 the town centre cinema was
completed, and Basildon Hospital finally opened in 1973 after a long campaign begun back in the
1950s. A year later Basildon Railway station opened; the result of a similar campaign.
The Housing programme had also continued
with new developments at Laindon, Langdon Hills, Craylands, Barstable and Chalvedon all
being completed during the 1970s. The Basildon Development Corporation were officially wound
up in 1986 with new estates at Laindon 8 and 9 Durham Road, Noak Bridge and Felmores being among
their last developments. Their successor, the Commission For The New Towns (CNT), became
temporary landlords until the eventual - and much delayed - transfer of the housing stock in
January 1994. The 'Right to
buy', first introduced in the 1970s, accounted for some of the stock at the time of the handover,
which was achieved via a tenants' ballot, with the choices being either Basildon District
Council or the 1991 formed Basildon Community Housing Association. Following the vote the
majority of the stock was transferred to the local council.
Basildon continues to expand, and this has been seen in recent
years with the creation of the Eastgate indoor shopping centre in Basildon town centre during the
1980s, and the Festival Leisure Park at Cranes Farm Road in the late 1990s.
In 1999,
as Basildon celebrated 50 years, the town was honoured in March by a visit from Her Majesty The Queen
and His Royal Highness, Prince Philip, the Duke of Edinburgh to officially open the new steel and glass
belltower in St. Martin's Square.
Basildon is
no longer considered a new town and will celebrate its 60th birthday in 2009.
Notes:
Designated area 8,834 acres. Source: Basildon Development Corporation annual report for the
period ending 31/03/1951.
Designated area 8,818 acres. Source: Basildon Development Corporation revised Master Plan, published 1965.
Text written 2005 with revisions 2006-2008.
Copyright © 2005-2008, Basildon History Online. All rights reserved. |
)
)
)
)
