The establishment of the london greenbelt: Reaching consensus over purchasing land

Journal of Planning History

Volumn 6, Issue 4, 2007, Pages 311-337

  Amati, Marco ^a   Yokohari, Makoto ^b  

^a MASSEY UNIVERSITY   (New Zealand)

^b UNIVERSITY OF TOKYO   (Japan)

Author keywords

consensus building; greenbelts; interwar; London

Indexed keywords

EID: 84993746145     PISSN: 15385132     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1177/1538513207302695     Document Type: Article

References (109)

1. A. Sutcliffe, “ Introduction: British Town Planning and the Historian” in British Town Planning: The Formative Years, ed. A. Sutcliffe, 2-16 (Leicester: Leicester University Press, 1981).
2. I. Gault, “ Green Belts and the Development Plan System” in Green Belt Policies in Development Plans, Working Paper Series Vol. 41 (Oxford: Oxford Polytechnic Department of Town Planning), 1->17.
3. D. Thomas, London's Green Belt (London: Faber and Faber, 1970); and M. Miller, Raymond Unwin: Garden Cities and Town Planning (Leicester: Leicester University Press, 1991), 189->209.
4. R. Munton, London's Green Belt: Containment in Practice (London: Allen & Unwin, 1983); and M. Elson, Green Belts: Conflict Mediation in the Urban Fringe (London: Heinemann, 1986).
5. G.E. Cherry and A. Rogers, Rural Change and Planning (London: E&FN Spon, 1996), 190->92.
6. M. Amati and M. Yokohari, “ Temporal Changes and Local Variations in the Functions of London's Green Belt, ” Landscape and Urban Planning 75, nos. 1-2 ( 2006): 125-42.
7. M.S. Roth, “ Foucault's ‘History of the Present.'” History and Theory 20, no. 1 ( 1981): 32-46.
8. W.R. Davidge, Hertfordshire Regional Planning Report (London, 1927).
9. T. Daniels, “ Coordinating Opposite Approaches to Managing Urban Growth and Curbing Sprawl, ” American Journal of Economics and Sociology 60, no. 1 (2001): 229-43.
10. G. Miller and D. Krieger, “ Purchase of Development Rights: Preserving Farmland and Open Space,” Planning Commissioners Journal 53 (Winter 2004): 7 pages.
11. A notable exception to this is M. Amati and M. Yokohari, “The Actions of Landowner, Government and Planners in Establishing the London Green Belt of the 1930s,” Planning History 26, nos. 1-2 ( 2004): 4-12.
12. R. Freestone, “Greenbelts in City and Regional Planning ” in From Garden City to Green City, ed. K. C. Parsons and D. Schuyler (Baltimore: John Hopkins University Press, 2003).
13. A. Sorensen, The Making of Urban Japan (London: Routledge, 2002), 144.
14. E. Howard, To-morrow : A Peaceful Path to Real Reform, original edition with new commentary by Peter Hall, Dennis Hardy, and Colin Ward ( London: Routledge, 2003), 131.
15. R. Unwin, Town Planning in Practice (London: T. Fisher Unwin, 1909), 163.
16. Thomas, London's Green Belt, 47.
17. See H. Beaufoy, “‘Order out of Chaos’: The London Society and the Planning of London 1912—1920,” Planning Perspectives 12, no. 2 (1997): 135->64; and D.B. Niven, “The Parks and Open spaces of London,” in London of the Future, ed. Sir A. Webb, 235->51 (London : London Society, 1921).
18. Miller, Raymond Unwin, 190–94.
19. On which 138 local authorities around London were represented, controlling an area of 2,952 km2. See D. Thomas, London's Green Belt, 52.
20. Miller, Raymond Unwin, 205.
21. Amati and Yokohari, “Temporal Changes.”
22. These were the counties of Essex, Middlesex, Kent, Surrey, Hertsfordshire, Buckinghamshire, and London.
23. A.D. King, The Bungalow: Production of a Global Culture (London: Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1984), 156->92. A sense of the difficulties of preserving land at the time can be gained from J. Sheail, Rural Conservation in Inter-War Britain (Oxford: Clarendon, 1981).
24. References as follows. TNA PRO: The National Archives Public Records Office, London; SHC: Surrey History Centre, Woking, Surrey; GBSC: Green-Belt Sub-Committee; SCC: Surrey County Council Minutes; CPRE: Council for the Preservation of Rural England Archives, University of Reading; LMA: London Metropolitan Archives; ERO: Essex Records Office Archives. LMA LCC/CL/PK1/26 Question put by Mr. Batley to the council meeting July 28, 1938. Miller, Raymond Unwin, 208, puts the figure at 11,400 ha in less than two years. In reality arriving at an exact figure was difficult because of the number of loose arrangements that councils entered into with landowners.
25. TNA PRO ED 31/586.
26. See J.H. Forshaw and L.P. Abercrombie, County of London Plan 1943 ( London: HMSO, 1943); and L.P. Abercrombie, Greater London Plan, 1944 (London: HMSO, 1945).
27. Ministry of Housing and Local Government, Green Belts (London: HMSO, 1955).
28. Elson, Green Belts, 14-15.
29. S.V. Ward, “ Re-Examining the International Diffusion of Planning,” in Urban Planning in a Changing World: The Twentieth Century Experience, ed. R. Freestone (London: E & F. N. Spon, 2000), 39-60.
30. The prewar implementation of the Tokyo greenbelt was prompted by a declaration made by Japanese planners during the 1924 Amsterdam International City Planning Conference. See T. Horiuchi, Toshikeikaku to youto chiikisei: Toukyou ni okeru sono enkaku to tenbou (Tokyo: Nishida Shoten, 1978), 216, in Japanese. The postwar Tokyo greenbelt was inspired by the Greater London Plan. See A. Sorensen, The Making of Urban Japan ( London: Routledge, 2002), 188.
31. The greenbelt in Korea is known as the “Restricted Development Zone.” Currently a number of attempts are being made to allow a controlled expansion of Seoul's developed area. See Town and Country Planning Association (TCPA), Commentary on RDZ Policy Reform in Korea (London: TCPA, 1999), 17.
32. M. Amati, “ Ascribing Changing Values to Suburban Greenspaces: The Inception of Wellingtons Green Belt,” in Proceedings of the Adelaide Parklands Symposium: A Balancing Act, ed. C. Garnau (Adelaide: University of South Australia, 2006), 1-11.
33. See A.P. Memon, “Urban Growth Management in Christchurch,” New Zealand Geographer 59, no. 1 (2003): 27->39.
34. King, The Bungalow, 156->92.
35. T. Marsden, J. Murdoch, P. Lowe, R.C. Munton, and A. Flynn, Constructing the Countryside (London: Routledge, 1993), 78.
36. PRO HLG 4/3353 Report by Adams and Thompson for Mid-Surrey Joint Town Planning Committee (JTPC), October 14, 1926.
37. G. Clifton, Members and Officers of the LCC—1889-1965, in Politics and the People of London, ed. A. Saint (London: Hambledon, 1989 ).
38. PRO HLG 52/1217 Annex to the Greater London Region Reservation of Open spaces, deputation to the minister, January 30, 1934.
39. PRO HLG 4/3764 Letter from minister to participants of Thames valley regional conference, June 12, 1922.
40. TNA PRO HLG 79/1074 LCC Joint report of the Parks Committee and the Town Planning Committee, December 14, 1934.
41. TNA PRO HLG 4/3243 Memo: Planning London, P. G. Saunders, August 3, 1935. Also A. Saint, “‘Spread the People’: The LCC's Dispersal Policy, 1889—1965,” in Politics and the People of London, ed. A. Saint ( London: Hambledon, 1989).
42. TNA PRO HLG 79/1074 Conversation between Sir P. Henriques and W. A. Ross, December 10, 1935; Letter from Culpin to Pepler, December 13, 1935.
43. LMA LCC/CL/PK/1/26 Letter from Gater, January 18, 1939.
44. Amati and Yokohari, “Temporal Changes.”
45. TNA PRO HLG 79/1074.
46. SHC GBSC, Minutes, Appendix No. 2, Dudley Auckland, May 9, 1935.
47. SHC GBSC, Minutes, Appendix No. 1, G. C. Sanderson, April 25, 1935.
48. As in the case of Morden, see SHC GBSC Minutes, August 7, 1935.
49. Minutes, August 8, 1935.
50. LMA LCC/CL/PK/1/25 Letter from the Greater London Regional Planning Committee (GLRPC) to London County Council (LCC) on the criteria for purchasing land in the greenbelt, January 16, 1936.
51. LMA LCC/CL/PK/1/136 Letter from Westwood, July 23, 1937.
52. SHC SCC, Minutes, July 26, 1938.
53. The sites owned by the Crown agents ranged in the 1930s from Central London locations such as Trafalgar Square to Windsor Castle and other estates throughout the United Kingdom. They also owned several pieces of land on the outskirts of London. TNA PRO CRES 36/89 Minute regarding the Green Belt and Home Counties Bill, January 18, 1938.
54. TNA PRO CRES 35/668 Minute from Stocks to minister, July 7, 1937.
55. TNA PRO CRES 35/668 Letter from C. L. Stocks to R. Adams, county of Essex, April 8, 1936.
56. Minute from Stocks, March 7, 1937.
57. TNA PRO HLG 52/1217 Greater London Region—Reservation of Open Spaces, deputation to the minister, reply January 30, 1934.
58. Sheail, Rural Conservation, 1-3.
59. P. Booth, Planning by Consent: The Origins and Nature of British Development Control (London: Routledge, 2003), 87-89.
60. Chuter-Ede was a member of the Labour Party and became the Home Secretary after the 1945 Labour election victory. In 1951 he became leader of the Commons.
61. ERO C/DP 10/110 notebook on the ownership and area of purchased greenbelt land.
62. SHC GBSC, Minutes, Appendix No. 6, May 9, 1935.
63. Appendix 1, Ham House and Adjoining Land, July 11, 1935; and minutes, June 18, 1936.
64. LMA MCC/C/E+H/1386.
65. ERO T/2 147/7.
66. ERO C/DP 10/110 notebook on the ownership and area of purchased greenbelt land.
67. Land Registry Practice Guide 2003. London: HMSO. www.landregistry.gov.uk.
68. SCC GBSC Minutes, August 13, 1935.
69. SHC GBSC, Minutes, Appendix No. 6, Minutes, June 18, 1936.
70. See SHC GBSC, Minutes, August 11, 1935. Also Amati and Yokohari, “Temporal Changes.”
71. ERO C/DP 10/110 notebook on the ownership and area of purchased greenbelt land.
72. TNA PRO HLG/4/3353 Times article, July 31, 1929.
73. CPRE Minutes, Abercrombie, July 21, 1927.
74. SHC GBSC, Minutes, November 20, 1935. Also TNA PRO HLG 79/1074 Conversation between Sir P. Henriques and W. A. Ross, December 10, 1935; and letter from Culpin to Pepler, December 13, 1935.
75. SHC GBSC, Minutes, August 2, 1935.
76. Minutes, December 10, 1936.
77. TNA PRO HLG 54/175 Surrey County Council Act, Sect. 70-71, 1931.
78. Amati and Yokohari, “Temporal Changes.”
79. TNA PRO CRES 35/668 Times, “Disappointing Grants,” January 14, 1936.
80. Saint, Politics and the People of London.
81. TNA PRO CRES 35/665 Mr. F. Hunt examined by Mr. Robertson, Public Inquiry shorthand notes, August 1, 1935.
82. Clifton, “Members and Officers of the LCC.”
83. See note 81.
84. Note from Hardy Sims, GLRPC on Aviation in the future, February 1, 1935.
85. TNA PRO HLG 4/3243 Planning London, P. G. Saunders, March 3, 1935.
86. TNA PRO CRES 35/665 Internal Memorandum, C. L. Stocks, January 15, 1935.
87. Letter from Stocks to R. Adams, February 1, 1935.
88. Ilford Recorder, council votes for an aerodrome, Labour argues war danger, February 28, 1935.
89. Ilford Recorder, August 1, 1935.
90. P. Hall, R. Thomas, H. Gracey, and R. Drewett, The Containment of Urban England (London: Allen & Unwin, 1973), 52.
91. TNA PRO CRES 35/668 Minute from Stocks to the minister, June 24, 1937. Also see letter from Stocks to County Surveyor, January 9, 1936.
92. Extracts from the Romford Recorder, April 10, 1936. Letter to the Times, “A Green Belt Town in Danger,” June 24, 1937. Letter to the editor of Countrylife, “Ugliness Pays,” July 17, 1937.
93. TNA PRO CRES 35/668 Letter from E. Drew to C. L. Stocks, August 6, 1937.
94. Reply from Blanford to C. L. Stocks about viability of obtaining golf profits at Hainault, January 1, 1935. Letter from Holcroff to Stocks about interview, February 5, 1935.
95. Reply from Blanford to C. L. Stocks about viability of obtaining golf profits at Hainault, January 1, 1935. Letter from Holcroff to Stocks about interview, February 5, 1935.
96. Romford Recorder, Editorial, April 10, 1936.
97. TNA PRO CRES 35/668 Letter from Cluttons to Stocks, June 27, 1937.
98. Romford Recorder, extract from report, June 17, 1938.
99. SHC GBSC, Minutes, October 12, 1936. Also see SHC SCC, Minutes, November 24, 1936 for a similar case.
100. SHC GBSC, Minutes, conditions laid down by Stanley Garton, March 1, 1935.
101. SHC SCC, Minutes, July 26, 1938, p. 1598.
102. For example, Surrey County Council's purchase of manorial rights over land and throwing it “open to the public.” SHC GBSC, Minutes, August 13, 1935.
103. D. Matless, Landscape and Englishness (London: Reaktion Books, 1998).
104. Tna Pro Cou 1/197 “ Tightening the Green Belt,” The Times, September 4, 1956.
105. LMA LCC/CL/PK/1/26 Letter from Buckingham Palace to Gater February 5, 1937.
106. Town and Country Planning Association, Green Belt—TCPA Policy Statement, May, www.tcpa.org.uk. London: Town and Country Planning Association, 2002; Royal Town Planning Institute, Modernising Green Belts—A Discussion Paper, May, www.rtpi.org.uk. London: Royal Town Planning Institute, 2002; and M. Elson, “Modernising the Green Belt—Some Recent Contributions,” Town and Country Planning, October 2002: 266-67.
107. P. McCann, Urban and Regional Economics (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2001), 254.
108. P. Self, “ The Political Answer to NIMBYism,” Town and Country Planning, September 1990: 228->29; and Town and Country Planning Association, Home Truths: Setting out the Evidence of the Need for More New Houses (London: Town and Country Planning Association, 2001).
109. Booth, Planning by Consent, 87-89.