We Are History The Rise and Fall of the Council House
May 18, 2020
Explore the evolution of council housing in Britain, from its roots in Victorian slums to the ambitious garden cities. Discover the impact of the Addison Act and the post-WWII prefabs that aimed to address housing shortages. Delve into the rise of high-rise flats and the devastating Ronan Point disaster that unveiled design flaws. Unpack the consequences of Thatcher's Right to Buy policy, which drastically reduced public housing. Reflect on modern housing crises and the tragic lessons of Grenfell, emphasizing the need for reform in treating housing as a fundamental right.
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State Steps In After Industrial Slums
- Industrial urbanisation created rat-infested slums that private market housing failed to fix.
- Early municipal action and the 1889 London County Council began state responsibility for decent housing.
Boundary Street Estate's Bandstand
- The Boundary Street Estate in Bethnal Green had arts-and-crafts tenements and a bandstand at its centre.
- Residents still celebrate the estate as a historic example of early council design.
Garden Cities Shaped Postwar Planning
- Ebenezer Howard's garden city model pushed for self-contained towns with green belts to ease urban poverty.
- His ideas shaped suburban council estates and later New Town planning after WW2.
