City planning in a local authority in England

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CITY PLANNING- IN A LOCAL AUTHORITY IN ENGLAND

A Thesis Presented to The School of Public Administration The University of Southern California

In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for. the Degree Master of Science in Public Administration

Fouad Amin Sami Hassouna August 1950

UMI Number: EP64497

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This thesis, written by .............FOUAD_AMIN _.SAMI HASSOIJNA.........................

under the guidance of h..i.s.. Faculty Committee, and approved by a ll its members, has been presented to and accepted by the Council on Graduate Study and Research in partial f u lf ill­ ment of the requirements fo r the degree of MASTER OF .S C IE N C E .m .P M LIC .ADMINISTMXIQN

Date.

AUGnSl..l$.5&

Faculty Committee

TABLE OF CONTENTS CHAPTER

PAGE

I. INTRODUCTION The problem

............

1

• • ..............

.....

2

Statement of the problem • • • • • • • •

2

Scope of the problem • • • • . • • • • •

4

II. BACKGROUND..........

5

Historical review of planning Merseyside Plan of 1944

. . . . . .

5

• • • • . • • . .

14

Relation of Huyton with other local authorities III.

• • • • • . . • • • • • • •

THE PLAN OF H U Y T O N .................... The outlineplan and its use in planning •

16 18 18

Information required to make an outline plan • • . • • • • • • . . • • The street system

• . • • • • • • • • • •

Types of road pattern

18 21

• • • • • • • • •

23

Classes of roads • • • • • • • • • • • •

24

The problem of road traffic and city planning

• • . • • • • • • . . •

Toward a new classification The neighborhood unit

25

. . . . . .

26

• . . . . • • • • .

28

The neighborhood concept in city planning

. . . . .

• • • • • • • • •

30

CHAPTER

PAGE The requirements of a neighborhood unit • • • • • • • • ........ .

33

Neighborhood center• • • • • • • • * *

35

Open spaces in the neighborhood

45

Other elements of the plan

.. . •

•• • • • » * •

Civic center • • • * • • • •

IV.

. . .

..........

46 46

Industry...........

50

Open spaces

53

* * « • • • • • • • * * • «

THE LOCAL PLANNER AND HIS RELATIONSHIP WITH THE PLANNING AUTHORITIES The local authority

. * • * • ♦

• ..................

The urban district council

• ••• * •

57 57 58

Huyton-With-Roby urban district council*

60

The departments of the council • • • • •

61

The planner and his work

..........

64

The position and duties of the planner in the local authority * • • • • • « «

65

The planner and neighboring local • • * • • « • • * • • • •

70

• » • • • • * • • • • * •

74

The County Council • • • * • • • • • • * •

77

authorities The Ministries

V*

SPECIAL PLANNING P R O B L E M S ................ The industrial zone

..........

The ease of a cinema • • • * * • • • • • •

79 79 84

CHAPTER '

PAGE

The ease of a garage

• • • • • * • • • .

88

A garage used for business in a

VT.

residential area

• • • • • • • • • •

88

SUMMARY AND CONCLUSION

. . . . . . . . . .

91

Summary The street system

........ • » • • • • • • • • •

The neighborhood unit

91 92

• • • • • • • • *

92

Other elements of the plan » • • • • • •

93

The local authority

94

• • • • • • • « • •

Conclusion• « • • • • • • • • • • • « . BIBLIOGRAPHY ...................................

95 101

LIST OF TABLES TABLE

PAGE

I. Area, Houses, Population and Rateable Value at 1/4/1947♦

(Huyton)

. . . . . .

II. Requirement of a Neighborhood Unit III. TV.

Neighborhood Shopping Requirements

3

....

34

• • . .

38

School Requirements . . . . . . . . . . . .

44

LIST OP FIGURES FIGURE 1*

PAGE

Urban District of Huyton With Roby Outline Plan

2.

22

Huyton Park Neighbourhood Unit For Approximately 8000Population

>•

•

29

The Civic Centre And Moss Croft Neighbourhood Unit

•* » « • • • « » . » .

48

CHAPTER

I

INTRODUCTION Planning is an important step in achieving any specific goal*

Lack of proper planning accounts for the

many problems of today•

Historically speaking, cities in

the old antiquity have been designed and built according to a specific plan*

In modern times most of the evils with

which we are faced result from lack of proper planning. With the increase of complicated life in cities today, careful and intelligent planning should be Introduced to try to put each element of the plan into its appropriate location and size.

The good which has been achieved in

decades gone by has proved that orderly planning is benefi­ cial to the community and the individual as well. England has suffered a great deal from the Second World War, with almost one third of her industrial cities being destroyed.

Lack of planning in the past has produced

a tremendous number.of blighted and slum areas with unsani­ tary conditions, inadequate open space, and no design for community life. for planning.

These conditions have produced a movement The government and local authorities felt

the need for orderly conditions with the result that a centralized authority for planning was established in 194-3 by the Minister of Town and Country Planning Act.

2 Today, planning In Britain for almost every aspect of the nation’s life is achieved on a scientific basis and planning which does not follow this pattern is no longer permitted* Great schemes for regions and towns have been studied and published for the development and re-development of the old; new standards in over-all planning are now effective. I.

THE PROBLEM

Statement of the problem*

It is the purpose of this

thesis to discuss the problems of city planning in a local authority in England*

The local authority being Huyton-

With-Roby Urban District Council located about fourteen miles east of Liverpool and bordered by Liverpool to the south, west and northwest; Whiston Rural District to the southeast, east and north; and Prescot Urban District to the east and northeast. The Urban District comprises eight wards with an estimated population of 50,218 in 194-7•

An interesting

table published by the council in their Year Book and Diary 1 of 1947-48 provides the necessary information.

**■ Huyton-WIth-Roby Urban District Council, Year Book and Diary 1947-48 (Prescot: T. Stephenson & Sons Ltd.), P. 87.

3 TABLE I AREA, HOUSES, POPULATION AND RATEABLE VALUE AT 1/4/1947

Area In Acres

Ward

No.of Pop. Heredi- 1931 aments Census

Est. Rateable Pop. Value in 1947 Pounds

St. Agnes*

403

490

1168

2021

12,681

St# Bartholomew’s

637

2135

1743

8830

35,031

St. Gabriel*s

357

601

1316

2486

7,059

St. Michael’s

878

2030

971

7726

42,636

Swanside

269

1745

---

6634

32,170

2800

--

11798

16,168

88

1113

---

4556

23,041

150

1530

---

6167

37,405

3054

12444

5198

50218

2 0 6 ,191

(11) Undertakings Common to two or more Wards

5,097

Fincham Huyton Farm Longview

(4)

Railways

(9 )

Government Property

274 2 ,5 2 1

214,083 General Rate— 20 Shillings in the Pound Estimated Product of a Penny Rate : 840 Pounds

Scope of the problem*

The study of this thesis

includes in brief the physical aspects of the plan of Huyton, the composition of the local authority in general, the procedure of adopting plans, and the position of the planner in relation to the public and to different authori­ ties.

However, it is the opinion of the writer that a

historical background of planning is important to review before trying to tackle this problem.

The Merseyside Plan

of 194-4- is mentioned to introduce Huyton as a part of a region rather than an independent isolated unit of planning The relation of Huyton with other surrounding local author! ties is also discussed for the purpose of understanding the cooperation that existed in order to achieve a unified goal namely; the prosperity of the community at large.

CHAPTER II BACKGROUND I*

HISTORICAL REVIEW OF PLANNING

The city planning idea is indeed no new thing.

For

many thousands of years man lived in conditions similar to those of animals; but as soon as he began to fashion his first weapons out of chipped stone and learned to use fire, the level of his life quickly rose above that of beasts. In such ancient civilizations as In Egypt and Mesopotamia, communal life first began.

Separate groups of men found

prlest-kings to guide them and then settled in close prox­ imity to the temple of their God and the dwelling of their King; the God’s earthly representative.

Both temple and

palace were fortified with strong walls and ditches.

In

short, these men created a more or less orderly kingdom, centering around a single fortified town ruled by the strongest and wisest of their number who was surrounded by his family and chief assistants. Comparatively little is known regarding the origin and method of planning ancient cities; but such information as is available is worthy of study. An examination of the plans of ancient cities, as well as those of the medieval and later periods in Europe,

6 show how important, in their design, was the protect!on against military attack*

In the degree of their fortifi­

cation and in the smallness of their size, they had the characteristics of great castles• As the common purpose of the occupants was military security, these cities show a high degree of uniformity in their artificial arrangement.

Each fortress city was

usually developed around a central meeting and market-place; such as the Greek Agora or the Roman Forum.

Wide procession­

al ways led from it to the gates of the city.

The people

lived on crowded blocks of land intersected by narrow streets. Another feature common to all ancient cities was the limited means of communication.

Long distance transporta­

tion had to be by water, and cities had to be close to estuaries or situated in the valleys of navigable rivers. Purposes of sanitation also required that they be accessi­ ble to flowing water.

The Egyptians and the Chaldeans laid

out their important cities in the valleys of the Wile and the Euphrates ; while the Greek and Roman cities were near to ports or had rivers flowing through them.

All land communi­

cations were by road as the primitive condition of highways restricted the area from which food supplies could be obtained.

The need for security, coupled with the unde­

veloped character of road communications, influenced the

selection of sites and size of cities*

These had to he

comparatively small so as to enable the population to he fed from the surrounding land*

The great size of the

mo d e m city has been made possible chiefly by the develop­ ment of transportation• These conditions, as well as the varying character of the rulers and the social habits and religion of peoples of different periods, were leading influences in early city building and architecture* What remains of cities of great antiquity shows that their founders frequently built to a plan*

Kahun, the

ancient town in Upper Egypt, with origin about 2500 B. G., is perhaps the earliest example.

It was laid out in rec­

tangular form and built for the men engaged in the con­ struction of the I1 1 ahun pyramid* With city planning in Greece, emerged the personality of the first known city planner, Hippodamus of Miletus, born about 480 B*G*

He introduced the principle of straight wide

streets and was the first of all architects to make pro­ vision for the proper grouping of dwelling-houses.

He also

paid special heed to the combination of the different parts of a town in a harmonious whole centering around the market place.

To him is attributed the plan of Piraeus and the

port of Athens.

Priene, Miletus, Alexandria, and Pergamum

are examples in Grecian style*

Several of them show radial

8

arteries superimposed on the rectangular system in a fan shaped design* Roman cities were more mechanical, but it must be remembered that the Roman colonial and camp plans were specially devised for the pioneer or military engineer to carry out, without artistic or other advice* The principal characteristic of Roman town plans was their layout on a north-south, east-west axis.

The two main

roads, often colonnaded to distinguish them, were the principal features which Rome probably introduced into the chessboard plan*

One of them, the Decumanus, running east

and west, was central; the other, the Cardo, was usually nearer one end*

Adherence to the gridiron pattern was so

persistant that not infrequently the Romans levelled uneven land to allow straight-line development.

They showed

attempts at the segregation of industry, and in Rome the height of buildings was limited to seventy feet by Augustus, to sixty feet by Trojan and to twice the street width by Nero • With the Midieval Period, the history of planning enters a phase of new importance*

Whereas many of the

existing European towns have a Roman skeleton, they are clothed in the style of the Middle Ages* Of the European cities that existed during Medieval times; those of Roman beginning, those that grew up around

9 the castle or monastry, or that were planned anew— all alike were inspired by war or the fear of war.

Every

medieval town as a city of refuge was easiest to defend where its line of wall was comparatively short.

This

necessity caused a characteristic crowding of buildings, huddled along a labyrinthine framework of tortuous, narrow lanes, a central market place of comparatively small pro­ portions surrounded by a ring of streets, and a piercing of streets radiating from the market place.

Among the

outstanding cities of the Middle Ages were Venice, Genoa and Florence• Bastide towns, a later development, were laid out on a rectangular plan.

They were brand-new cities and grew out

of a political and economic policy that had its inception in the days before the northern conquest*

There are believed

to be two hundred, laid out by St. Louis, his brother and Edward I, in Southern France.

Montpazier, built in 1284, is

well known as is Saint-Foy la G-rande, one of the most excellent towns. It was not until the Renaissance that town-planning technique took a new stride.

Italian towns of the 16th

century began to straighten and widen their streets;

Rome

was practically rebuilt and the Mgrand manner of planningw spread North to Germany where the close of the Thirty Years' War provided a stable environment for city building and

10 rebuilding*

Of the German cities which were affected by

this new spirit, Karlsruhe had-the most interesting plan; that of fanshaped diagonals converging on the castle*

Not

until after 1 8 7 0 , however, were city walls destroyed to make ring boulevards and sites for gardens and public buildings. In 1703, Peter the Great founded St. Petersburg (Leningrad), Russia.

A detailed plan was prepared and the

building of the city was accomplished in a few years. French Kings and Merchant Princes of Amsterdam joined in the revival of town-planning practice.

Versailles stemmed

directly from the new Italian grandeur. In England, the Great Fire of' 1666 had at last given London its opportunity for more efficient and orderly growth.

Sir Christopher Wren planned its rebuilding and

suggested the use of radial streets integrated with the rectangular plotting of intervening areas, broad streets, and location of industry outside the city limits.

Unfortu­

nately the times were not opportune and his plan was never executed. The two best known Illustrations of city planning in the United States at that time were Philadelphia, Pa. (1682) and Washington, D.G. (1791)*

William Penn laid out-

Philadelphia in an unyielding rectilinear pattern.

The plan

of Washington, as prepared by L*Enfant included provision

11 for important public buildings that served as focal points upon which both rectangular and diagonal streets met*

One

outstanding defect of the plan resulted from having the gridiron system of streets superimposed upon a pattern of diagonal thoroughfares without some effort to carry streets across the latter at right angles.

These intersections at

angles, which are acute, introduce objectionable danger points for traffic as well as awkward and highly undesirable triangular properties for architectural purposes; especially along Important avenues* The m o d e m subject of city planning has evolved during the last fifty or sixty years as a result of a real international pooling of experiment and experience. France’s contribution may be described as a continua­ tion of Renaissance principles of design; to bring an old city up to date.

The city of Paris, which Haussmann

modernized in 1856, already contained most of those civic features for which it is famous.

Haussmann*s work forms

the best example of clear-headed logic in town-modemizatlon. The city has a unity of conception in plan, in architectural treatment, and in landscape design which cannot be denied. In the year 1899, Camillo Sitte of Germany, published his book Stadtebau (Town Building). His doctrine was revolutionary and set Germany upon the path of a national style of town planning.

He sent people back to

12 study the old towns, and exaggerated the conscious effects of ancient charm to make them study the site for new areas and the surroundings of old "buildings * The greatest contribution of Germany was the intro­ duction of the Building Zone Plan and the Administrative Powers*

The Building Zone Plan meant that the buildings

in the different parts of the city were limited in the number of their stories, the amount of ground they could cover and the use to which they could be put* Abercrombie defines the Administrative Powers as (1) The right of the city to declare what land is ripe for building and what not (a power it can be seen which could easily lead to the exercise of undue pressure), thus preventing extravagant straggling. 11In order that a site may be built upon at all, however suitable it may seem in the eyes of the owner, it is essential that it shall be formally recognized in the building plan as ready for the purpose by the local authority. 11 (ii) The power (first used by Frankfurt under the Lex Adiekes) of pooling and redistributing ownership after planning* Both these powers enable the authorities to prepare their plans in exact detail and to decide when and where such detailed plans are required* The prepara­ tion in detail of every road, building plot, place, tree planting, sites of possible buildings and public gardens in the normal procedure; the amount of this careful and on the whole excellent detailed planning which was completed in the last twenty years of the nineteenth century was enormous; each town went into the same detail that an estate owner would do with us.

^ Patrick Abercrombie, Town and Country Planning (London: Oxford University Press, 1943), PP* 95-95*

13 The monumental grouping of civic centers and the park system are the main international contributions of America in this period to the practice of planning*

The

relation of open space to the number of the population and the linking of them into a system which connects to the country by means of radial parkways, and finally the safe­ guarding of a reserve of wild country are all features of the typical American system. England’s contribution is one-sided but of firstrate importance.

It produced the low density garden and

house type of residential planning#

Like so many of the

social experiments, the pioneer efforts came from philan­ thropic individuals desiring to improve the conditions of their employees• In 1888, William Lever (Lord Leverhulme) built Port Sunlight to house the workers in his soap works.

The form

of control was proprietary; the firm retaining ownership in the houses•

In 1895» Richard and George Cadbury established

Bournevilie for the workers in their cocoa factory.

The

area was handed over to a national trust and occupation of houses was confined to Cadbury’s employees. The spiritual force behind the movement for better towns flowed from the pen of Sir Ebenezer Howard. salient principles advocated by him were:

The three

(1) building to a

preconceived plan; (2) restricted growth; and (3) public or

14 trust ownership*

In 1899 Howard and his associates

founded, the Garden City Association with a capital of 2 0 ,0 0 0 pounds, and in 1 9 0 3 , as 11an heroic act of faith*,

built Letchworth (Herts)• II.

MERSEYSIDE PLAN OF 1944

During the Second World War, and precisely In 1942 when the Port of Liverpool and the surrounding towns were heavily bombed by the Germans, the councils of this region, now properly called the Merseyside Region, got together and asked the Government to advise them as to the best way of replanning their region.

By 1943, after the constitution

of the Ministry of Town and Country Planning, (The Minister of Town and Country Planning Act, 1943» provided for the constitution of the Ministry); the minister appointed P. Longstrath Thompson to prepare a report in consultation with a technical committee of the Merseyside Advisory Joint Planning Committee.

This committee was composed of the

Regional Planning Officer, Ministry of Town and Country Planning and the Engineers and the Surveyors of the twentyfour local authorities in the Merseyside Region, of which fifteen were in Lancashire and nine in Cheshire. 2

2 F. Longstreth Thompson, Merseyside Plan 1944

(London:

His Majesty’s Stationery Office, 1945), p. 53.

15 The plan proposed was related to a region covering an area of approximately 450 square miles, whose'common interests and activities were focused upon the Port of Liverpool and Central Merseyside towns— Liverpool and Bootle on the Lancashire side, and Birkenhead and Wallasey on the Cheshire side of the river. The purpose and scope of the Merseyside Plan as has been outlined in the plan is The purpose of the Outline Flan is to formulate a co-ordinated policy for the reconstruction and future development of the communities in Merseyside. Its main objectives are to secure the best possible living conditions for the inhabitants and the best possible working conditions for the port, industry and agriculture upon which the prosperity of the region and the livelihood of its Inhabitants depend. While these objectives can be attained in some measure by the independent planning of the separate communities, their full realization cannot be attained, in a region of such closely knit communities and inter­ dependent interests, without a high degree of cooper­ ation between the planning authorities and mutual agreement on the essential features of the urban and rural structure of Merseyside as a whole that will best serve their collective needs. This does not imply any surrender of ideas, initiative or autonomy in matters of internal planning; on the contrary, it is in the general interest that each locality should preserve and develop its own Individuality. But it does entail joint agreement upon a general plan of campaign and subsequent adherence to it. To furnish this is the purpose of the Outline Plan. It is not within the province of the plan to deal with the detailed zoning or lay-out of either reconstruction schemes or new development; its function is to provide what may be likened to a strategic framework, within which the tactical operation of local planning can be carried out by each Authority to satisfy its own

16 particular requirements in general harmony with a definite regional policy.3 This obviously shows that planning authorities were left quite free to deal with their respective detailed planning*

The twenty-four local authorities included in

the Merseyside Plan adopted its general recommendations and the Ministry of Town and Country Planning considered it as the Bible to any adoption of plans in connection with new proposals* III.

RELATION OF HUYTON WITH OTHER LOCAL AUTHORITIES

It was the purpose of the Merseyside Plan to adopt overall regional planning proposals such as location of industry, main arterial roads, residential locations, agriculture land etc*, but the individual master planning and detailed developments were completely left to the planning authorities of the local jurisdictions* A successful outline plan with detailed planning cannot be achieved entirely in each individual local authority without any knowledge of what is happening in the adjoining local authorities*

In Huyton, while the

outline plan was in the course of preparation, joint meetings were periodically held with the authorities

17 interested and those affected by any new planning proposals#

These were the City of Liverpool, the Whiston

Rural District and the Pres cot Urban District.

The joint

meetings were held by the town planning assistants either collectively or two or more at a time; or when they dealt with serious alterations and planning proposals, the engineers and surveyors held a meeting with their town planning assistants to decide on the best line of procedure. Sometimes a proposal in Huyton required a change of zone or a change of line of road in the neighboring authorities.

This change would be authorized by the

councils affected and a map or maps sent to the authorities indicating the exact change and proposal.

Upon the

approval of the councils to such alterations, planning schemes ean be effectively worked out and detailed planning can be established.

CHAPTER III THE PLAN OF HUYTON I.

THE OUTLINE PLAN AND ITS USE IN PLANNING*

The Master* Plan in England, or as called the Outline Plan, is a more definite and detailed type than the regional plan*

It contains proposals for planning or replanning an

existing municipal area or a new town* the following elements are shown:

On the Outline Plan

(1 ) residential areas;

(2 ) existing roads, proposed new roads and widening of existing roads; (3 ) existing and proposed industrial zone; (4) civic center; (3 ) neighborhood unit centers; (6 ) rural areas, e.g*, agricultural land; (7 ) public open spaces; (8 ) private open spaces, school sites and playing fields; and (9 ) existing and proposed railways* Information required to make an outline plan* The information required to make an effective Outline Plan, under ideal conditions, should comprise the study of such phases as: 1*

History*

A study of the growth of the city or

region with the aid of old maps locating the ancient historic buildings and indicating the sites of archeological remains; also the architectural character and local use of materials should be made *

19 2.

Physical features • A survey of the physical

features should include the composition of the underlying rock and the fertility of the soil*

Contour maps should

show actual heights and variations of surface* 3.

Population.

The number, density, increase,

decrease and movement of population should be studied; charts indicating the male and female occupations should also be made. 4*

Communication*

A historic revue of roads, water­

ways, railways and air transportation as well as details of each and proposals for future expansion with regard to accessibility of various means is necessary. 5*

Health conditions.

The rate of births, deaths,

and diseases must be known. 6.

Housing.

A historic study with regard to types

of buildings, existing dwelling in slums, and blighted areas is Important as is sanitation, hygiene and rentals. 7*

Open spaces.

A survey of existing open spaces

should be classified according to use (private, public or special type), to degree of admission to public, and for location with respect to need. 8.

Land cultivation.

It is important to investigate

the agricultural land, forests and small holdings• 9*

Landscape survey.

This should Include the

features as related to the villages; also the types of

20 country, soil, and kinds of trees and vegetation, 10,

Industrial survey,

A survey of types of local

industries, number of labor employed in each; mineral products and future possibilities, and trade and commerce including shops, business, etc,, should all be known, 11*

Public services.

This includes a study of

sewerage, drainage, water supply, electricity, gas, etc, 12,

Administration and finance,

A knowledge of the

local authority areas, taxable values and land values, and the power of local authority with regard to planning is important. It does not necessarily divisions will have

follow that

a separate map; though

that some may require several.

each ofthese it is possible

There is a form of map

called the "Surface Utilization" which shows how every plot of land is used, A survey may technician the data

have three different uses: to give the upon which to work; to

providecorrobora­

tive evidence for a committee or a higher authority like the Ministry of Town and Country Planning; and as propaganda with the public • After collecting the above information, which in the case of Huyton was the work of the technical committee of the Merseyside Joint Planning Committee, except in the case of local needs, the planner has set his goal and object:

to

21 use effectively, the information and results which have been compiled in the planning operation* It was the opinion of the writer while working in Huy ton that the goals achieved by the collection of facts and devising an outline plan for the district would not materialize unless detailed plans had been carefully studied to fit the needs of the population as one community* The outline plan of the Urban District of Huyton-with-roby was altered twice in the course of a year after detailed planning was established*

A good outline plan should be

flexible to meet technological change and future require­ ments • II*

THE STREET SYSTEM

It may seem strange to start the elements of the plan with the street system, but today almost every detail of planning is affected in one way or another by the street system*

The old classification of roads has proven a great

failure and has caused a tremendous number of accidents* Any new plan which does not consider the safety angle is bound to be a failure* A total of road casualities which approaches a quarter of a million every year in Britain is a very stern fact indeed; and planning, or lack of planning, which admits

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23 of such slaughter is had.

This calls for radical reform.1

An effective solution for the traffic problem will no doubt be clear if we look at the past and existing patterns of roads and then try to find a solution which makes for safety to those living in our cities and country. Types of road pattern. 1.

Gridiron.

This type has been favored in America

but the objection to this pattern is the extra distance involved in travelling in a diagonal direction, however, this has been remedied in many cities by the addition of diagonal routes.

This treatment has evolved in acute angled

plots which have an unfortunate effect on the architectural development of adjoining frontages.

The most impressive

disadvantage is that a layout of this kind no doubt produces dangerous crossings and acute street angles which increase accidents. 2.

Radial.

The radial pattern has been the pre­

dominant type in Britain however unsymmetrical its outline may be.

The tendency there has been for centers of popu­

lation to grow up at road intersections, and as these centers extend outward, new routes may develop from the

1 PQSigft and Layout of Roads in Built-up Areas. Report of the Departmental Committee set up by the Minister of War Transport(Londons His Majesty’s Stationery Office, 1946), pp. 6-8.

24 center. 3.

Linear.

This type of development arises mainly

from topographical features and is frequently found in cities which have grown up along the principal roads through valleys.

The old part of Huyton, known as Huyton Village,

developed on these lines and is now used as the civic center for the district. Classes of roads.

The report of the Departmental

Committee set up by the Minister of War Transport in Britain in 1946 and entitled, Design and Layout of Roads in Built-up Areas, classifies roads as Arterial Roads Roads serving the country as a whole, or a region of the country and linking up the main centres of population or the various regions. Through Roads Roads carrying traffic having its origin outside the town, and its destination inside the town or vice versa. Local Through Roads Roads carrying traffic having its origin in one area of the town and its destination in another area. Local Roads All other roads in the town except development roads. Development Roads Roads the primary function of which is to provide frontage for the development of land.2 In America, roads are sometimes classified into the

2 rbid., p.2.

25 following categories:

(1) freeways or parkways, (2) major

highways, (3) secondary highways, (4) loop streets, (5) culsde-sac, (6) service roads. Any kind of classification amounts to dedicating certain functions to roads.

The uses of the above road

classifications are (1) freeways for the use of uninterrupt­ ed flow of traffic, (2) shopping streets, (3) business streets, (4) industrial streets, (5) amusement streets, (6) residential streets, (7) country streets and lanes. The problem of road traffic and city planning.

One

of the main problems facing city planning is the problem of sound and rapid road circulation and at the same time the achievement of a high safety factor*

To arrive at a sound

solution to this problem, through traffic and rapid trafficflows should be isolated as much as possible. Today we have large groups of population concentrated around main high-speed traffic roads*

Planners consider it

most unhealthy, dangerous, and improper to channel heavy traffic through shopping and residential areas.

These things

should not be allowed to continue simply because they have been happening for years and years.

The city planner is

anxious to establish a calculated balance between business, residential and industrial areas, and between built-up areas and open spaces.

When this balance is achieved, real safety

26 can be had.

The entire layout of all newly developed areas

must be made dependent on that safety factor.

It would be

futile to plan for hygiene and amenity within a layout which in operation was certain to cause more injury and death from accidents.

The problem of road traffic and road design is

then a serious one.

The road layout to the city becomes,

so to speak, the skeleton to the body.

If it is ill design­

ed, the whole city plan is permanently deformed. Toward a new classification.

The unsolved problem of

road design may be due to the great number and kind of classified roads.

A new answer to the problem of road

classification has been Introduced by Patrick A b e r c r o m b i e ^ and H. Alker Tripp.^

They divide roads into three main

types• 1.

The Arterial Road, which is fenced off from all

riparian access and is connected to other roads at rare intervals by circles (roundabouts) or clover leafs.

Its

main use is for long distance movement through the country, and for heavy traffic-flows in cities.

The carriageways

must be kept clear of obstructions of any sort.

There must

^ Patrick Abercrombie, Town and Country Planning (London: Oxford University Press), pp. 143-146. ^ H. Alker Tripp, Town Planning and Road Traffic (London: Edward Arnold and Company), pp. 40-57*

27 be no frontages, no loading and unloading and no standing vehicles or pedestrians*

The only premises directly

accessible from the artery will be repair depots and places where meals are served; both should provide (at their own proprietors* cost) ample space off the highway for their standing vehicles and parking*

All bus stops should be

embayed and passenger bridges or subways provided at all stopping points*

The arterial road should take the form

of a parkway with nature introduced into the design*

It

should be as straight and as flat in gradient as possible* 2*

The Sub-arterial Road, on which no buildings

open directly and to which few side roads enter, but which is directly connected with the road system*

It is required

to link the main arteries with the various webs of minor roads*

The sub-arterial will be designed, so far as may be,

on the same lines as the arterial road* 3*

The Local Roads are quite different in category*

In the country they are the lanes and village streets, while in the city they are the roads for residence, business, shopping, industry and amusement*

They should be designed to

discourage the entrance of through traffic of any kind*

The

only traffic to be encountered will be the traffic having business in the particular locality* The arrangement thus outlined will result in a system of arterial roads isolated from frontages and from through-

28 traffic and having very few road junctions*

These junctions

will link up with a system of sub-arteries which are also isolated in the same way*

The sub-arterial roads will

communicate with selected local roads*

No local roads

should have access to the arteries; the sub-arteries being the sole link between the arterial and local roads* The effect will create a series of pockets or pre­ cincts of local roads and the fast through-traffic will be kept entirely clear of those precincts because it has no inducement to enter.

Daily life in the precincts can carry

on as though the through-traffic did not exist; only when a journey by car is undertaken need there be any contact with major traffic streams.

For the prevention of road casual­

ties there is no remedy; human nature, which has changed so remarkably little in a few thousand years, is not likely to change overnight at the present time.

Casualties will

continue, but, by means of proper planning, their total can be cut down to a fraction of its present bulk. This new classification was adopted by the writer when planning Huyton* ingly.

The layout of roads were designed accord­

An example of this is The Huyton Park Neighbourhood

Unit for approximately 8000 Population. III.

THE NEIGHBORHOOD UNIT

The neighborhood unit is the smallest planning element

URBAN DiSTRICT OF HUYTON WITH ROBY FiGURE 2

HUYION STATION

HOSTELS.

NUMBEH OF HOUSFS

HUMBEH

•srwtsres'sckoOi

QARACC.

'MUNCHt tCMETfH)(

%

■^RIQNAL BY. , TRACED P L/.M MO £ / 236 /

BY

r A

1

f■ u stTY Ct n t 'ki

PREPARED BY

T U tu c HOUSCS

CHECKED BY

HJZs

CATE.

5/ 9 /1 9 4 7

HAIL HAT STATION

H U Y T O N PARK N E I G H B O U R H O O D U N I T FOR A P PROX .

8000

POPULATION

i f .

SHOPS

ACH/CULTUREl

,,.,3/AC.RESI

SCALE.

U.'JX ahotm chtsj

ILEi

‘ TOTAL AREA OF HE/CHBOUHHOOO r JSO ACHES

A.W.THOMAS, M. tNST.MUN.E.. ENC/NEER

& SURVEYOR,

COUNCIL OFFICES.

30

in the city*

Probably the original idea of the neighborhood

concept was the settlement house movement which began in Toynbee Hall, London in 1885, as a result of Samule Barnett1s address two years before on the "Settlement of University Men in Great Towns."

Another major influence was the garden

city movement launched with the publication in 1898 of Ebenezer Howard’s famous Tomorrow: A Peaceful Path to Real Reform and re-issued with slight revisions in 1902 under the title G-arden Cities of Tomorrow, The latter proposed a new kind of urbanism in a planned city of limited size and density, surrounded by a fixed agricultural "green" belt. Raymond Unwin’s Nothing Gained by Over-Crowding, London 1918,

is another milestone in garden city l i t e r a t u r e . 5 The neighborhood concept in

city planning. The

concept of the urban neighborhood as it

now exists has

developed only during the last decade. The abstract concept of a town has been the home of a single complex community.

This existed in most towns until

the era of rapid town growth whichaccompanied the industrial revolution in Britain and America.

The result has caused a

breakdown of that feeling of neighborhood or community life,

5 James Dahir, The Neighborhood Unit Plan, Its Spread and Acceptance (New York: Russell Sage Foundation, 194-7), pp. 5-20.

31 and, despite the fact that modern life has produced tre­ mendous technical inventions, the life of many city dwellers is filled with unnecessary difficulties created through an unorganized physical environment*

Difficulties such as the

inconvenient situation of shops, traffic dangers, especially for children, the location of work places and open spaces, and drawbacks such as polluted air and noise, have not exist­ ed before modern day life*

This is particularly true in

large cities where through-traffic is allowed to cross the centers of population; especially in the residential areas which might be defined vaguely as neighborhoods.

These

neighborhoods, and strong feeling for them still exists in some places, are now largely obsolete, not only in the sense that their buildings are outworn, but also in their physical arrangement and use.

The more a town expands in a disorderly

fashion, the more the neighborhoods are mutilated.

This is

a social as well as a physical mutilation, because schools, workplaces, shops, community and recreational buildings do not take their place as components of a rational pattern* Approximately one half the population of England lives in towns of 50,000 or over.

In these towns the sense

of a neighborhood has been lost to a great number of the inhabitants simply because the town is too large to be fully understood as a social unit, and the neighborhood or the immediate environment of most of the population has never

32 had a full identity.

This has not only happened in the

older portions of the towns, hut also in the large housing estates which were built by the housing authorities and private enterprise after the first world war.

The real

cause was the inadequate community provisions so important in inducing the growth of neighborhood feeling.

The physical

arrangement of the housing estates present great obstacles also. In the past, physical barriers were sometimes used to preserve a sense of the neighborhood. features could be used to define them.

In the future such This point has been

illustrated in the MDudley Report.” The principle behind the idea of the urban neighbour­ hood must not merely be to break down the large town into units of a size which will allow a full growth of community spirit and neighbourhood feeling, but to ensure that its redevelopment takes place in such a way that each unit, while still essentially but a single part of a greater whole, becomes a comprehensible entity in itself. It might, even, become a local government entity, for it would obviously be sensible if the ward boundaries of a town followed the boundaries of neighbourhood units, wherever these are strongly defined. The obvious way to delimit the neighbourhoods is by adapting their bounda­ ries to barriers such as railway lines and main highways and by the creation of features such as open spaces of the parkway type. These would be sufficient to establish individuality and would not suggest too great a degree of separateness.6

Pealfln of Dwellings, Report of the Design of Dwell­ ings Sub-committee of a study group of the Ministry of Town and Country Planning (London: His Majestyfs Stationery Office, 1944), pp. 58-59.

33 The neighborhood unit is the answer to the problem of planning*

The population of a unit which can support

this neighborhood idea has been a matter of considerable debate.

The Housing Manual 194-4- discusses this point and

the neighborhood as a whole • A population of roughly 5»000 to 10,000 affords a convenient basis for a neighbourhood. In such a neigh­ bourhood there should be a variety of family types differing in experience and outlook as well as in size. It is large enough to require and support a fairly complete range of communal facilities and yet small enough to bring every house within easy distance of the main neighbourhood shopping and social centre. It is also a convenient unit on which to base the provision of schools.‘ The requirements of a neighborhood unit.

The stand­

ards for the requirements of a neighborhood unit as adopted by the writer have been a compromise resulting from careful consideration of various reports and studies.

These were

then adjusted to meet the requirements of Huyton and its inhabitants.

It should be understood that the standards

shown in Table II were the aims and goals of the program adopted; but sometimes due to hardship, either physical or political, they had to be slightly altered in order to overcome these difficulties.

As a whole the standards

7 Housing Manual 1944, Ministry of Health, Ministry of Works (London: His Majesty’s Stationery Office), p. 11.

34 TABLE II REQUIREMENT OF A NEIGHBORHOOD UNIT (10,000 persons at 3*25 persons per dwelling)

Number

Acres

Neighborhood Center Community center Branch library Health sub-center Shops

1 1 1 30*

4,0 0.5 2.0 4.3

Other Requirements Churches, halls, etc. Public houses (bars) Additional shops Dwellings Nursery schools Infant schools Junior schools Children’s playparks Organized games Ornamental parks Allotments Minor parkways

— 5 8 3,077 5 2 2 — — — — —

Total Acreage

335.00

Gross neighborhood density in dwellings per acre Gross neighborhood density in persons per acre *Minimum number.

7.5 3.0 0.56 231.98 1.66 3.0 10.5 5.0 21.0 20.0 10.0 10.0

9.18 30

Space reserved for 15 additional shops.

35 represent the proposals for detailed planning. Neighborhood center.

The neighborhood center accomo­

dates a community center, a branch library, a health sub­ center and a shopping center#

Of all the buildings forming

this center, by far the most important socially is the community center#

It is designed as a real people's club

for all who live in the neighborhood with an aim to satisfy their needs for informal social intercourse, education (both practical and academic), free discussion, physical culture and recreation#

The immediate requirements are a canteen

with adequate kitchen equipment, a large hall with a seating capacity of approximately five hundred, and two or three smaller rooms for different activities.

Further facilities

such as full provision for music, drama and lectures, a gymnasium, indoor game rooms, craft rooms, reading and writing rooms, and a restaurant and swimming pool should be added in response to future needs of the neighborhood. The great importance of the community center has been illustrated by Walter G-ropius in his book Rebuilding Our Communities. I am deeply convinced that the building of neigh­ borhood community centers is of even greater urgency than housing itself, for these centers represent a cultural breeding-ground which enables the individual

36 to attain his full stature within the community*® The health sub-center is required by the Ministry of Health and is provided as a clinic or as a branch of the health center in the civic center. A study of the shopping facilities in Huyton has indicated that shopping centers were grouped mostly in two sites.

It was found that most of the population were

forced to do their day to day shopping in Liverpool which was the best alternative for them.

The nearest shopping

center in Huyton which was situated in the extreme north of the district made it necessary for the people to use the bus in crossing the district. Besides the inadequacy of the shopping provision, the location of the shops themselves were highly dangerous as they were situated on a main highway where through traffic was more than dangerous to pedestrian shoppers.

The need

for other shopping centers were provided in new layouts* It was found that the minimum requirements for a neighbor­ hood center had to include thirty shops covering 2.86 acres, allowing for car parks, garages and service roads for load­ ing and unloading.

An additional 1.44 acres which made a

total of 4.3 acres was also reserved to allow for future

® Walter Gropius, Rebuilding Our Communities (Chicago: Paul Theobald, 19^5), p. 54T

37 additions.

Two subsidiary centers, each occupying an area

of approximately 0.28 acres, were provided to supplement the main shopping center. The estimated minimum shopping requirement for a neighborhood unit is illustrated in Table III. An estimated number of churches in each neighborhood are roughly five.

They are one of each of the following:

Church of England, Roman Catholic Church, and three others which are determined by the percentage of other denomina­ tions in the neighborhood.

These denominations include

Methodist, Baptist, Congregational, Christian Science, Presbyterian, Unitarian, Jewish, Salvation Army and others. The sites for churches and halls have been reserved in each neighborhood for future use and restricted only to that type of use. The public houses or bars are an important element in the social life of the British people.

Anyone who has

visited the British Isles has undoubtedly observed the kind of social life carried on in the public house.

This type of

socializing has become important to the majority of people and each day at certain hours groups of people can be seen gathering at the pubs.

It is interesting to quote some

figures from the Board of Trade relating to the quantity of beer brewed.

The national average consumption in 1939

was 0.52 of a barrel per head per year while in 194-3 it was

38 TABLE III NEIGHBORHOOD SHOPPING REQUIREMENTS

Trade

Number of shops in neighbor, center

Number of shops in two sub­ sidiary units

Grocery and provisions

4

2

Butcher Fishmonger Baker and confectionery Dairy Fish and chips Greengrocer

3 1 2 1 1 3

2 2 2

Newsagent and stationer, cig. tobacco, sweets 3 1 Boots and shoes (sales) Boots and shoes (repairs) 2 1 Gents* outfitters Ladies* outfitter, draper and baby linen 2 1 Hairdressing Hardware 1 Bank 2 Post office 1 Chemist 1

—

Totals

8

-

-

30

Total number of shops in unit —

38

Shop floor area sq.ft*

3-350 1-450 2-900 450 350 350 350 350 1-450 350 others 450 450 350 350 450 350 350 900 450 350

39 0.62 of a barrel. 9

The balance of beer per head of popula­

tion to be supplied in the neighborhood would amount to 0.62 of a barrel per person per annum, or about 119 barrels per week per 10,000 population.

This supply could be

obtained by providing five public houses; two of medium size selling thirty barrels per week and three of small size selling twenty barrels each. amounted to 3.0 acres.

The area which was reserved

The sites designated were located

within walking distance from dwellings. The problem of dwellings, properly called housing, has been discussed in the two reports, namely; Design of Dwellings. and the Housing Manual 1944. They were the Bible of Ministries of Health and Town and Country Planning for any question in connection with housing.

Any post war housing

scheme which was not incorporated as part of a neighborhood unit was rejected by both ministries.

The Ministry of Health,

which is the responsible authority for housing and which supplies the necessary funds for local authority housing schemes, has always insisted on a wide alternative in housing; yet the three-bedroom type of dwelling was almost always the prevailing type.

9 R. Nicholas, The Manchester and District Regional Planning Committee (London: Jarrold and Sons, 1945), p. 38.

40 The Housing Manual 1944 states: It is important to provide the various sizes of dwelling in the right proportion* This should be settled in relation both to the prevailing type of dwelling among existing property and the various sizes of household requiring accommodation* During the transitional period the most urgent need in the majority of areas will probably continue to be for the three-bedroom type of dwelling suitable for families with children, because of the large number of young married couples with children who have been unable as a result of the war to obtain a separate home of their own.-^ The alternate types of dwellings were the question of long debate; but the following types were finally accepted as a workable solution in the neighborhood units of ten thousand population. centages were:

These dwellings according to per­

houses, 90%; cottage flats, 3.5^; flats,

3.3^; single persons’ flats, 2%; and old peoples' cottage flats, 1%. Three alternative plan arrangements were suggested for two-story houses of the more frequent type as approved by the Ministry of Health and prevailing in most post war housing schemes.

They were the three-bedroom type designed

to accommodate five persons. The "Dudley Report" recommends these alternatives.

^ p. 14.

Ministry of Health, Ministry of Works, op. cit.,

41 Alternative I Minimum Room Area Living-room Kitchen for meals Utility room

160 sq. ft* 110 sq. ft. 35

Total Unallocated

305 sq. ft. 25 "

Minimum aggregate area

330 sq. ft.

Alternative II Minimum Area Living-room with dining space Working kitchen

210 sq. ft.

Total Unallocated

310 sq. ft.

Minimum aggregate area

330 sq. ft.

100

20

M

”

Alternative III Minimum Area Kitchen living-room Scullery Sitting-room

160 sq. ft. 50 "

Total Unallocated

320 sq. ft.

Minimum aggregate area

330 sq. ft

110

10

"

"

42 Division of First Floor Minimum Area Best bedroom Double bedroom Single bedroom

135 sq. ft. 110 11 TO ”

Total Unallocated

315 sq. ft. 15 11

Minimum aggregate area

330

sq. ft.

Total Areas. All the above minimum standards can be secured in houses of areas varying from 874-926 sq. ft., depending upon internal planning and siting. The area of 900 sq. ft. is recommended as the minimum average area, exclusive of outbuildings.*^ The above recommendations have been carried out literally by the Ministry of Health and that which was originally proposed as the minimum size finally became the maximum size.

The only maximum size house which could be

built in Britain up to 194-7 was limited to one thousand sq.

ft.Even private owners and builders were not allowed

to build except to these general recommendations.

This

should be understood in the light of the great shortage of building material and labor which Britain faced after the war. The housing lots and types of houses were planned in the design of each neighborhood in Huyton and at the same

Ministry of Health, op. clt.. pp. 33-37.

43 time made to conform to a general scheme for better living in the community*

Any individual sub-divider had to conform

to the subdivision of land proposed in the layout of the neighborhoods• The school requirements in the district and neigh­ borhoods have been governed by the Education Act of 1944 which has been the basis for calculating school require­ ments*

This act has raised the school-leaving age to

fifteen and ultimately to sixteen*

Among other provisions

it imposed new responsibilities upon the local education authorities• The school requirements according to the Education Act, 1944 are illustrated in Table IV*12 The schools required in Huyton have been calculated according to the Education Act of 1944.

The education

authorities in the Lancashire County Council had allocated the school sites in Huyton, so it became extremely difficult for the Planner to try to change any location of sites for schools according to detailed planning.

Such a situation

was alleviated by detailed design which safeguarded access to schools and altered the design in order that schools would have access only from local roads and that children

R. Nicholas, City of Manchester Plan (London: Jarrold and Sons, Limited, 1945)9 P* 118.

44 TABLE IV SCHOOL REQUIREMENTS

Number pro­ posed

Pop. served

No. of pupil per school

Area per school (acres)

Nursery

5

10,000

40

0.33

1.66

Infant

2

10,000

160

1.50

3.00

Junior

2

10,000

320

5.25

10.50

14

130,000

450

17.00

18.30

Grammar (incl. further educ.)

1

50,000

550

20.50

4.10

Technical (incl. further educ. & Roman Catholic)

2

70,000

550

20.50

5.86

County College

1

60,000

12.50

2.08

Infant

1

20,000

160

1.50

0.75

Junior

1

20,000

320

5.25

2.62

Modem

1

30,000

450

17.00

5.66

Grammar

1

180,000

550

20.50

1.14

Type of School

Total area per 10,000 pop. (acres)

Neighborhood Schools

District Schools Modern

Roman Catholic Schools

55.67

45 would never cross a main road to and from school.

It was

the desire of the Planner to provide all neighborhood school requirements in each unit; but unfortunately some neighbor­ hoods had an insufficient number of schools while others had more than their need* Open spaces in the ne1ghborhood♦

The built-up areas

in England suffer from a general lack of open space; the inner urban areas which were developed during the industrial era reveal a serious deficiency.

This point is illustrated

by R* Nicholas. The sight of children playing in the gutters of our streets is so common that unthinking people might look upon it as a natural state of affairs. Before the war culs-de-sac were being reserved in increasing numbers as play streets; this certainly had the advantage of minimizing danger, but children’s playgrounds must be attractive in appearance and only planned if they are to be of real value.13 The need for open spaces in the neighborhood has been a widely accepted thing all over the world, but the exact type and size has been a matter of considerable debate. It is the opinion of the writer that the open spaces in the neighborhood are extremely important for the we 11fare of the community.

They become, so to speak, the lung

to the whole residential development besides being a great factor in the social life and activities of the population.

13 IMd*. P- 106.

46 The standards adopted in Table II were planned to give access to all dwelling units within a walking distance of not more than five minutes.

In the case of playparks

for children, most houses were planned in groups around convenient playparks; but in the case of houses which faced the road, the distance from any house to the nearest playpark was not more than six hundred feet. The ornamental parks and organized game parks were located near the centers of the great bulk of population. The school playgrounds were to serve the residents also. Allotments are a kind of open space dedicated to the planting of vegetables.

These are extremely important in

the layout of the neighborhoods because of the great short­ age of food production and any increase in production of food supply would be of real value. IV.

OTHER ELEMENTS OF THE PLAN

Civic center. The facilities with regard to public building, shopping, and social and civic activities in the existing civic center in Huyton were found completely inadequate.

To divide the region into neighborhood units

does not complete the plan for developing social and civic responsibilities and interests. The Urban District of Huyton-With-Roby, when fully developed, should house approximately 70,000 population.

47 The civic center requirements for such a district would include a town hall with the necessary yards for cars and services, a main health center, a main library, cinemas and theaters, a main shopping center, public houses, a residen­ tial hotel, fire and police stations, a main district post office and a variety of office and government buildings. In proposing the civic center for Huyton, alternative sites were carefully studied, but the final decision rested on the existing site which had been used for this purpose since the establishment of the district.

This site was

chosen because of its central location in the district; also being of easy access to the railway station and ultimately to the outer ring road to Liverpool. In designing the civic center of Huyton, careful consideration was given in making a workable plan; one that could be built in stages.

Careful study of the Civic Centre

and Moss Croft Neighbourhood Unit shows that the east and north side of the main inner ring road will not destroy the few existing buildings, all of which are about sixty years old. When the housing scheme north of the civic center is constructed, part of the inner ring road surrounding the center will have to be extended at least to a point where it can connect with one of the existing roads as this part of the road runs clear into open space.

This road will not

URBAN DISTRICT OF HUYTON WITHTTOBY FIGURE 3

4®/ Mirny 6 l«rj* F itU *

'0.«*

rtmgtmg

u4>; ft*

fc /’

*-r.A

m

mPlfsr

Trecinc.

P lan

Ho

Wo

O r lin e i dy Prepared Br UfJt Cnty.it Br Traced By ifA DaTE

26/9/47

Pufet, ixH School Chuc. cn

B>u

CC. COMMUWTX Cw|ltt

PO Pun Office . tic

C*

Fb FiBl Sthiom PS Police brnioN

ClM

ClMLMh

TH TowHiu

KC Wtcr* Csirat P H PotLk. Hon*

THE CIV IC CE NT R E AND MOSS C R O F T N E I G H B O U R H O O D

DHOPS

£ .i

I PuFHIC

F L ATS

UNIT

F

*CT0RIE3

P/LRKS

r

]

P h y iw c

t w I uoius

M lM w E

t«iNfE» 1 SuRvcroe

edicts Rotos

Houses

Coukc.il F ie ld s

O ffices

Wu y t o M

49 be continued for a few years but the moment the health authorities decide to build the health center, they will have to purchase the site located for them, one which occupies the area bounded on the east by the remainder of the ring road#

This makes the ringroad feasible in practice#

The remainder of the center can be built in similar stages, as half of the area designated is vacant . The outstanding feature of the civic center is a main road proposed straight from the railway and bus station to the proposed town hall which provides an excellent archi­ tectural feature in the district.

Gn both sides of this

road there will be public, municipal, and government build­ ings situated.

The height and type of architecture will be

controlled to give the required appearance of dignity and harmony to the whole center.

The shopping center will

include most of the large shops which are to supply the whole district needs.

In laying out the shopping center,

careful consideration was given to the safety angle and at the same time provision made for a park on the opposite side of the shops so as to give a pleasing effect to the shoppers. With this feature of having the shops on one side of the road, people doing their shopping will be safer as there is no need to cross the road.

The great demand for car parks

around the center has been provided for in the plan. case of a greater need for parking facilities, public

In

50 ■building lots and public parks around the civic center can be utilized.

The civic center as proposed is surrounded by

parks and ornamental gardens so as to provide a pleasant atmosphere for workers and visitors as well. Industry. The location and size of the industrial zones In the Merseyside area are fully discussed In the i jt

Merseyside Flan 194-4»

The need for Industry was based on

three main conclusions.

In the first place, It is stated,

that under normal conditions a great proportion of employ­ ment is connected directly either with the port of Liverpool and its shipping, or with industry dependent on imported raw materials, or on export markets overseas.

Secondly; there

is a great number of unskilled male employment.

Both of

these Indicate a lack of industrial balance with a result that Central Merseyside suffered more from trade depression of the early 1930*s than anywhere else in Great Britain. The third conclusion shows that the existing industries in Central Merseyside are unable to provide full employment for the whole of the insured workers, which means that the exist­ ing industry is not proportunate to the size of the popula­ tion. The area required for new industry is based on the

^ (London:

F. Longstreth Thompson, Merseyside Plan 1944 His Majesty’s Stationery Office), pp. 7-14.

51 number of people who may be unemployed under existing industrial concerns.

The number arrived at was about

100,000 and the amount of space occupied in relation to the numbers employed was taken as a rough average to be one acre for every forty employees.

Upon this basis an area of about

2,500 acres will be needed, and fifteen per cent of that was added to provide for amenities (e.g. open space for lunch­ time,

recreation, canteen, clinics, etc.) making a total of

2,875

acres.

Out of these 2,875 acres, Huyton was given an

extension of its industrial area to about seventy five acres* The existing industrial area at Huyton is situated in Huyton Quarry where there are factories operating in making chairs, brickwork, and electrical equipment. Due to the increase of population, the need for more industries and a larger industrial area was pressed by the council.

It was felt that the introduction of more industry

would benefit the district in three main ways.

First; with

an increase of population the new industry would be a great source of employment.

Second; the introduction of Industry

would undoubtedly raise the rateable value and provide more income to the council.

The third benefit was to guarantee

the labor council of certain political direction and at the same time keep the labor council in office. The area arrived at was almost double in size to that recommended by the Merseyside Plan.

The location and area

52 was approved by the Council, Board of Trade, Ministry of Transport and the Ministry of Town and Country Planning. This matter had been of great controversy; a detailed account of which will appear in Chapter V. The design of the industrial area took into consider­ ation five main points. !•

The area located will not affect any residential

dwellings with regard to smoke, noise and prevailing winds. 2.

The site is served by a railway station for both

freight and passenger transport and by two main roads; the Liverpool-Warrington proposed arterial road and another to Manchester and the Horth.

In this case, the whole zone is

well served by transportation. 3.

The layout of roads were designed to have a fairly

flat gradient of road and to serve as many sites as possible. In no case would a level junction with railways be allowed. 4.

The subdivision of land took into consideration a

workable unit of 5000 square feet for factory sites.

In case

of a need for extension of site, two or more units (lots) might be purchased. 5.

The industrial zone was designed on the same lines

as the neighborhood unit; that is it provided a center of activity with playing field, canteen, clinic, club, etc., in a centrally located area which was of easy aecess to all factory workers.

53 This layout was altered many times in order to compromise with the demands of existing industries and to provide a workable solution for developing the site with minimum cost, as well as add appeal to new industries.

The

council approved a recommendation to allow for the develop­ ment of only light industry; that which did not produce smoke or noise. Open spaces. The reservation of land for open spaces is the means by which the continuity of building zones is broken.

In cities these open spaces will form the park

system which will include gardens, playing fields, children*s playgrounds, allotments, and land preserved in its natural state as woodland.

In the country the open space is farm land

in which the village or small town is embedded. The trends in city planning today are toward giving more emphasis to the provision of adequate open space for rest and active recreation.

The modern practice is to provide open

spaces according to three categories: 1.

The regional park^system, consisting of large

reservations of forest and wild areas which are accessible by road and are connected with the city by parkways. 2.

The city park system, consisting of pleasure

parks and large athletic fields. 3*

The neighborhood parks and playing-fields.

54 In Britain the agricultural land is listed among the open spaces and considered an important element in any plan. Land zoned as agriculture is reserved entirely for this purpose and at no time may it be used for other provisions• The open spaces in the Merseyside Region have been divided into three types. 1.

Agricultural and rural zones.

These have been

based on considerations of the fertility and productivity of the soil and the extent to which the agricultural utility is affected by "urbanization."

For planning purposes, the rural

land has been divided into three main categories, namely: (1) first-class and good land, all of which should be preserved for agriculture; (2) medium quality land which should also, as far as possible, be preserved for agriculture, but which should be released for other purposes in pre­ ference to land in category one; (3) poor quality land and land already partly "urbanized" which should be taken for urban develop­ ment in preference to land in category two. Due to the fact that productive farm land is an essential part of the British national economy, the conserva­ tion of good agricultural land, as it is immovable and strictly limited in quantity, must be an essential part of planning.

55 2.

Open spaces and nature reserves.

The preserva­

tion of a genuinely rural "background11 is by far the most valuable part of the regional open space equipment, from the point of view of maintaining a healthy and agreeable environ­ ment for the large centers of population and of affording an opportunity of refreshing contact with the country mode of life.

The reservation of urban parks and playing field,

regional open spaces, and coastal fringe in the natural state and nature reserves is important . Apart from recreational and agricultural needs, suitable areas should be reserved to ensure the protection of the natural flora and fauna for the purpose of scientific study and the stimulation of public interest in natural history. 3*

Holiday centers near the sea should be within easy

access for large centers of population.

They should provide

both Indoor accommodation and Indoor amusement for rainy days, as well as facilities for bathing at all hours. desires to be continually on the beach.

Mot everyone

A center of adequate

size can afford the layout and upkeep of gardens, tenniscourts, bowling-greens, and other amenities not usually accessible to holiday-makers.

A site of this nature should

not be immediately on the foreshore but about a quarter of a mile inland, where it would not prevent the use of the beach area by others. Reserved open spaces in Huyton were divided into

56 three groups. 1.

Private open spaces which include golf courses,

private clubs and school playing field.

Of this category,

an area of about 120 acres was agreed upon to be kept as an open space*

It included the Huyton Golf Course and The

Hazels. 2.

Public open spaces which include public parks,

ornamental parks and neighborhood parks. 3.

Agricultural land, the sole purpose of which will

be for agriculture, and at no time will more than one dwell­ ing be built on an area of forty acres. be in the nature of a farm house.

Such a dwelling will

An area of approximately

180 acres was zoned for agriculture.

CHAPTER IV THE LOCAL PLANNER AND HIS RELATIONSHIP WITH THE PLANNING- AUTHORITIES I . THE LOCAL AUTHORITY The local authority la the body which performs the functions and duties of local government*

It was defined

by the Finance Act, 1931, Sect. 32, as any body having power to levy a rate or to issue a precept to a rating authority, and includes the corporation for which any such body acts for executive purposes.

The Local Government

Act, 1933, Sect. 305* identifies the local authority to be the council of a county, county borough, county district, i.e. a non-county borough, urban or rural district, or rural parish. Each of the divisions of local authorities has been established under the following acts. 1.

Administrative Counties. (County Councils, establish­ ed under Local Government Act, 1888.) 2. County Boroughs. (County Borough Councils, establish­ ed under Local Government Act, 1888.) 3. Non-County Boroughs. (Borough Councils, established under Municipal Corporation Act, 1835*) 4. Metropolitan Boroughs. (Metropolitan Borough Councils, established under the London Government Act, 1899.) 5* Urban Districts. (Urban District Councils, establish­ ed under Local Government Act, 1894.) 6., Rural Districts— Rural District Councils Parish Councils. Parish Meetings. (Established under Local Government Act, 1894.)

58 7. 8.

Joint Bodies, e.g. Catchment Boards under the Land Drainage Act, 1930. Justices of the Peace, who, in addition to their Judicial functions, have certain duties relating to local government.3These local authorities (except parish meetings,

Justices, and Joint bodies) are elected by the local govern­ ment electors.

The powers and duties of the local authority

varies in proportion to the size or population of its area. For example; the local authorities of the largest towns known as county borough councils have the most comprehensive powers and duties while the parish meetings, representing the smallest population, have the least powers. The urban Wales

district

council.

The whole ofEngland and

is divided into rural and urban districts. In the

boroughs, the borough council or county borough council is the urban authority.

It was the Intention at one time,

before the passing of the Public Health Act of 1875, that districts with a population of three thousand and over should be urban districts, and the remaining areas rural districts. This has not been adhered to and so the size of each varies. The urban

district

elected from the

parishes

urban district.

council is composed ofcouncillors (or wards, if such exist) of the

The council is presided over by a chairman

1 John J. Clarke, The Law of Housing and Planning (London: Sir Isaac Pitman and Sons, Ltd. 1937), pp. 8-9.

59 who is elected annually by the council from among the councillors or persons qualified to be councillors of the district.2 'The powers and duties of urban district councils as outlined by Clarke are POWERS AND DUTIES. Generally these are the same as in rural districts, but in addition the urban district council may possess,— 1. Powers under the Parochial Adoptive Acts, as exercised in a rural parish by the parish council. 2. Education powers and, where population is 20,000 and over, subject to the provisions of the Education {Local Authorities) Act, 1931» it is the local education authority for elementary education. 3. Highway powers. 4. Management of trading enterprises as in boroughs. 5* Certain functions which the county council administer in rural districts conferred on the district council in urban districts, e.g. Regulation of advertisements where population is 10,000 or upwards.3 Clarke gives the powers and duties of rural district councils as 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6.

Sanitary powers under the Public Health Act, 1875 and subsequent Acts, of which the Public Health Act, 1936, is chief. Water supply. Powers under the Sanitary Adoptive Acts. Housing and planning powers. Duty as rating authority to levy and collect General Rate. j, Miscellaneous powers, including making of by-laws.

2 Local Government Act, 1933» Sect. 33 (1) London, 3 Clarke, op>. clt., p. 14. h

Ibid., p. 12.

60 Huyton-W1th-Roby urban district council.

The council

is composed of twenty-four councillors representing eight wards.

Every year the council elects a member to act as

chairman to the council and at the same time they elect a deputy chairman who usually becomes the chairman for the next year. The council at the annual meeting appoints Statutory and Standing Committees,: and may at any time appoint such committees as are necessary to carry out the work of the council, but, subject to any statutory provision in that be­ half, shall not appoint any member of a committee so as to hold office later than the next annual meeting of the council.

The chairman and deputy chairman of the council

are ex-officio members of all committees and sub-committees* The Huyton Council has the following committees: General Purposes Committee, Works Committee, Finance Committee, Rating Committee, Public Health Committee, Hous­ ing Committee, Parks and Cardens Committee, Plans and Town Planning Committee, Staff Committee, and Library Committee. The main committee which deals with town planning in the council is the Plans and Town Planning Committee, al­ though in some cases planning requires approval of the Hous­ ing Committee and the Parks and Cardens Committee. The duties of the Plans and Town Planning Committee has been outlined in the Huyton-With-Roby Urban District Council

61 Year Book and Diary 1947-48 in the following manner: 1* To pass, or otherwise, the plans of all new streets proposed to he laid out and of all buildings proposed to be erected within the district, and the plans of all such alterations and rebuilding of build­ ings as by law are required to be submitted to the Council. 2. To execute the provisions of the Restrictions of Ribbon Development Act, 1935,and the various Town and Country Planning A c t s *5 The committees usually meet once every month and their recommendations go to the next council meeting for approval. The departments of the council. An urban district council is required to appoint the following salaried officers:

Clerk, Treasurer, Medical Officer of Health,

Surveyor, and Sanitary Inspector.^

They may also appoint

such other officers as are necessary for the proper exe­ cution of their duties under the various acts.

The Local

Government Act, 1933, Sect. 107 (4), provides that the offices of Treasurer and Clerk shall not be combined* The Huyton Couneil has the following departments: Clerk1s Department, Treasurer*s Department, Rating and Valu ation Department, Surveyor*s Department, Health Department, and Local Fuel Overseer’s Department.

Each is headed by an

5 Huyton-With-Roby Urban District Council, Year Book 1947-48 (Prescot: T. Stephenson and Sons Ltd.,) p . 19. 6

Local Government Act, 1 9 3 3 Sect. 107 (1) (London: His Majesty's Stationery Off iceTI

62 officer who has a deputy and assistants*

With respect to

planning, the Surveyor is the responsible officer, although other departments come into the picture after adopting or rejecting planning proposals. The Surveyor*s Department in Huyton is headed by the Engineer and Surveyor.

Assisting him are the Deputy Engineer

and Surveyor and the assistant office heads.

The Chief

Engineering Assistant is head of the engineering office which deals with roads, sewers, drainage, water supply, electricity and surveying.

Under him are senior and Junior assistants.

The Town Planning Assistant heads the town planning office; the Architectural Assistant, the architectural office; the Building Inspector heads the building inspector’s and building manager*s office, and the clerk’s office which deals with the typing, telephone and business transactions. Although each of these offices are separate and get their orders directly from the Surveyor or from the Deputy Surveyor, there is full cooperation in the office.

Most of

the work is related to other offices of the department* To illustrate this point a few examples will give a better idea of the problem*

The design and construction of

highways and streets are the work of one of the engineering, assistants; yet the location and size and colors of roads, the planting of shrubs and trees, the height of fences are all proposed by the Town Planning Assistant.

Complete

63 cooperation is needed between these two assistants in order to arrive at the best and most economical solution. The number of population in each neighborhood unit and the ultimate population figure can be arrived at very successfully after knowing the exact location of future residential areas.

The Engineering Assistant who deals with

sewer problems, extension of the sewers works and proposed sewer lines and drainage will have to know the location and size of residential and Industrial areas, as well as the final layout of sites before he proceeds to extend his design for future sewerage plants.

This requires a stable outline

plan and detailed planning of different sites which in turn necessitates almost daily contact between the Town Planning Assistant and the Sewer Engineer. The council housing estate plans, after being designed by the Town Planning Assistant and approved by the different authorities, go to the Architectural Assistant.

He designs

the different house plans to be erected after which they go to the Sewer Engineer, the Hoad Engineer and the Surveyor. All work on the same plan, each in his particular line of responsibility.

When everything has been studied and the

last stage of construction comes, then the Building Manager and Building Inspector come into the picture.

A scheme such

as this requires the full cooperation and understanding among all the assistants in the Surveyor’s Department.

Problems

64 concerning the scheme continue to arise daily until the whole project is completed. The planning research in Huyton, which meant the collection of data and information necessary before starting the proposals for the outline plan, was supplied by all the departments of the council.

Sometimes it was necessary to

request cooperation from the public, from other government bodies or from private individuals.

In this ease, all the

above mentioned gave every sincere effort to supply the necessary information. II.

THE PLANNER AND HIS WORK

The Town Planning Assistant is the officer responsible for planning in the council; his work is mostly concerned with the preparation of planning schemes for the district. He has other responsibilities which will be dealt with later. By reviewing the steps taken in the case of a specific plan, a neighborhood unit for example; the Planner sets a program based on theoretical study of the requirements to be included in the design.

These requirements are needed by the govern­

ment, the council, and the public.

In addition, the Planner

decides what other standards should be included in order to produce the best possible results.

When the area and location

of the neighborhood is fixed, the Planner directs his as­ sistants to supply the required information.

The site is

65 surveyed, contour lines are planned, and the soil and direction of wind in different seasons is studied.

From

the surface utilization map the Planner can trace the existing use of land and the age of buildings, important features which should be preserved, use of existing buildings and their location, highways, and existing railways.

After

getting all the information needed, the Planner sets about designing the layout of the neighborhood; first, locating main sites for different uses such as the neighborhood center, public parks, private clubs and playing fields, and school locations; then to locating the houses, buildings, and streets. When the rough outline of the neighborhood unit is completed, the Town Planning Assistant requires the approval of the Surveyor or the Deputy Surveyor in case of the Surveyor's absence.

Then copies of the plan in 1:2500 scale

are sent to the different ministries for approval and comment.

The plan is then drawn, colored and submitted to

the council, and when approved, becomes final.

Copies of the

plan then go to the different assistants for execution, each according to his own work.

A copy also goes to the Building

Inspector who sees that all subdivisions conform to the plan. The position and duties of the planner in the local authority. The Town Planning Assistant besides being the responsible officer in the council with respect to the

66 preparation of planning schemes also has duties to the public, the government and the other departments of the council.

He shares, with the Building Inspector, the

responsibility of adopting plans for buildings.

Before

construction, a license for all buildings is required. This license is supplied upon the approval of the council. All plans are submitted to the Building Inspector who sees that the building by-laws of the couneil are followed.

The

plans then go to the Town Planning Assistant who passes or rejects them from an architectural and planning point of view, basing his decision mostly on neighboring architectur­ al features, materials and colors.

They then both recommend

the plans, to be passed or rejected, to the Plans and Town Planning Committee.

The Plans and Town Planning Committee

has the power to adopt or reject plans.

This point is

Illustrated in the Huyton-WIth-Roby Year Book 1947-48 which states: The power of approving or disapproving plans^ in pursuance of Section 64 of the Public Health Act, 1936, shall be deemed to be delegated to the Plans and Town Planning Committee, and it shall be the duty of that committee to meet so often as will ensure exercising^ the said powers within the period prescribed by law7* It is necessary to have the approval of the council for all matters passed by the Plans and Town Planning Committee, and other committees.

Upon the approval of the

7 1 Huyton-WIth-Roby Urban District Council, op. clt.,

p. 76.

67 council, the license is granted.

Any building is subject to

inspection by the Building Inspector in regard to planning, materials and construction*

He sees that the building by­

laws are carried out precisely and that the work under con­ struction conforms to the plans and specifications. The Town Planning Assistant supplies all the necess­ ary information to the public with respect to zoning and density.

When a plan is passed, Indication is made for the

subdivision of land, sites are reserved for different build­ ings, and the future use of existing property is recommended. It is the custom in England that when one intends to buy property he should see the Town Planning Assistant first so as to find out beforehand what plans have been made for the future use of the. property in which he is interested.

The

planning maps will show the sitei of the property and the present and future use of it.

Sometimes a scheme necessi­

tates the destruction of houses in order to construct a road, or the reservation of a site for open space ; so it would be unwise to buy such houses or buildings. The usual procedure in such cases is for the council to buy the property whenever the owner wishes to sell.

It has been the experience of the

writer that the public cooperated very well in all such pro­ posals by the council. The Planner is also authorized to see that the exist­ ing property is used only in accordance with the license.

68 To cite an example; a resident in a residential area might use his back garage as a public repair shop.

In this case,

the offender would be given notice by the Clerk, upon the recommendation of the Town Planning Assistant, to conform to the planning scheme.

The power to enforce and carry-

planning schemes into effect, is given by Section 13 of the Town and Country Planning Act of 1932. 13.— (1) Subject to the provisions of this section, the responsible authority may at any time— (a) remove, pull down or alter, so as to bring into conformity with the provisions of the scheme, any existing building or other existing work which does not conform to those provisions, or the demolition or alteration of which is necess­ ary for carrying the scheme into effect; or (b) remove, pull down or alter, so as to bring into conformity with the provisions of the scheme, any building or other work, not being an exist­ ing building or an existing work, which does not conform to those provisions, or in the erection or carrying out of which any provision of the scheme has not been complied with; or (c) where any building or land is being used in such a manner as to contravene any provision of the scheme, prohibit it from being so used; or (d) where any land has since the material date been put to any use which contravenes any provision of the scheme and is not an existing use, rein­ state the land; or (e) execute any work which it is the duty of any person to execute under the scheme in any case where delay in the execution of the work has occurred and the efficient operation of the scheme has been or will be thereby prejudiced. (2) Before taking any action under this section the responsible authority shall serve a notice in the pre-

69 scribed manner on the owner and on the occupier of the building or land in respect of which the action is pro­ posed to be taken and on any other person* who, in their opinion, may be affected thereby, specifying the nature of, and the grounds upon which they propose to take, that action, J (3) Where a building or work which the responsible authority propose to remove, pull down or alter under this section is an existing building or an existing work, or where the use of a building or land which they propose to prohibit is an existing use, the authority shall serve the notices for which provision is made by the last preceding subsection not less than six months before they take any action and, in any other case, they shall serve those notices not less than twenty-eight days before they take any action. (7) A person who uses any building or land in a manner prohibited under this section shall be liable on summary conviction to a fine not exceeding fifty pounds and to a further penalty not exceeding twenty pounds in respect of each day on which he so uses the building or land after conviction.8 Besides taking action against an owner who is using his land in a way contrary to the provisions of the planning scheme, the local authority is empowered to issue orders, subject to the approval of the minister, for preserving buildings of special architecture or historic interest.

Q

The Town and Country Planning (Interim Development) Act, 194-3 extends this provision to trees and woodlands.

IQ

It is then

8 Town and Country Planning Act, 1932. Section 13, (London: His Majesty*s Stationery Office). ^ Town and Country 10 Town and Country Act. 1943# Section 6.

Planning Act, 1932. Section 42, Planning (Interim Development)

70

*

the responsibility of the Town Planning Assistant to see that no trees are cut which in his opinion will affect the amenities of the district*

The Town Planning Assistant

should report any such conditions to the Clerk so that he may serve the necessary notices,and if need, carry the legal procedures against the offenders* While Town Planning Assistant to the Huyton Council, the writer consulted with private subdividers and real estate people in respect to their subdivisions.

The plans when pre­

pared were not studied to suit the individual subdividers but rather to meet the needs of the community at large.

Some

hardships occurred in cases where lots happened to be owned by more than one person.

These cases were dealt with in

joint meetings with the owners, the Surveyor and the Town Planning Assistant.

At all times there was agreement in the

way of give and take so that an individual owner might give part of his land in exchange for another part*

In this way

subdivision could be made to conform with the plans*

If an

agreement was not reached, the council had the power to buy the land and subdivide it. The planner and neighboring local authorities. In dealing with local planning, a great many problems arose which were really in the nature of regional rather than local.

The boundaries of the local authority were in

71 reality administrative and political 'boundaries rather than physical ones• Many planning problems occurring in one local authority affect in one way or another one or more neighboring authorities and in some cases, far local authority*

When these problems required group action and

policy decision, they were usually presented to the Mersey­ side Advisory Joint Planning Committee which was composed of surveyors from the twenty-four local authorities compris11 ing the Merseyside Region* A joint committee of this kind, dealing with planning on a regional basis, was established by the Town and Country Planning (Interim Development) Act, 194-3, Section 9, which enables the Minister of Town and Country Planning to require the constitution of joint com­ mittees.

Section 9 of the Act states:

9-— (1) Provision may be made by an interim development order for empowering any joint committee specified therein to permit the development of land in accordance with the terms of the order, and where such provision Is made the joint committee shall be deemed to have been appointed or constituted for that purpose as well as for the purposes for which it was originally appointed or constituted. (2) A joint committee may delegate to any subcom­ mittee appointed by them under subsection (5) of section three of the principal Act, or under that subsection as applied with modifications by an order under section four of that Act, any of their functions, including any powers exercisable by them under or by virtue of an

^

(London:

P* Longstreth Thompson, Merseyside Plan 194-4 His Majesty’s Stationery Office).

72 interim development order. (3) An order under section four of the principal Act for the constitution of a Joint committee may he made by the Minister without the request of any of the constituent authorities; and accordingly in subsection (1) of that section the words "at the request of any one or more of them" shall cease to have effect. (4) A Joint committee constituted by order of the Minister under the said section four or under any enact­ ment repealed by the principal Act may be dissolved by a subsequent order of the Minister whether or not that order provides for the constitution of any other Joint committee. (5) Any land acquired, in accordance with any pro­ vision of the principal Act, by a Joint committee being an interim development authority, shall be vested in the local authority for the district in which the land Is situated, and shall— (a) until the date on which the scheme comes into operation be held in trust for the Joint committee; (b) after that date, be held, transferred or dis­ posed of in such manner as may be provided by the scheme.-*-2 The principal act mentioned in this quotation refers to the Town and Country Planning Act of 1932.

The Merseyside

Advisory Joint Planning Committee was constituted under Section 9 of the 194-3 Act.

This Joint committee besides

supplying most of the information and research for the Merseyside Plan of 194-4. has continued to deal with major problems arising from hardships in carrying out the plan and in solving new problems.

Town and Country Planning (Interim Development) Act. 1943# Section 9•

73 On the other hand, the Immediate planning problems of two or more neighboring local authorities were dealt with locally.

Detailed planning, in order to arrive at a* harmoni­

ous and satisfactory layout, sometimes required Huyton to %

plan the bordering areas of local authorities.

Plans such

as these were not looked upon by the neighboring planning authorities as aggressive community action, but, to the contrary, were welcomed and accepted by the councils and committees.

While Town Planning Assistant, the writer

shared a fine spirit of cooperation with the town planning assistants of the neighboring authorities. To cite a case which affected the city of Liverpool, the greatest and most powerful authority in the Merseyside Region, will illustrate this point.

An area of land in

Huyton amounting to about one hundred acres, bordering the city of Liverpool and being zoned for residential purposes, needed to be incorporated into a neighborhood unit.

The area

was too small to require full neighborhood facilities and it had no physical boundaries which might provide the necessary community life*

On the Liverpool side there was a housing

scheme being built and a road connection left to Join with Huyton; but this road did not actually connect with any existing or proposed road.

This road would ultimately be a

cul-de-sac without adequate space for turning around or with­ out serving any worthwhile purpose.

This was but one of the

74 factors which needed clarification.

In order to do this the

Town Planning Assistant contacted the planning department of the city of Liverpool for a conference.

As a result, complete

agreement was reached and Huyton was given the necessary support to incorporate parts of Liverpool into a design pro­ viding full neighborhood facilities.

About fifty acres,

south of the border line of Huyton in Liverpool, were in­ corporated into the plan.

A copy of the neighborhood detail­

ed planning was accepted by Liverpool.

Such cooperation made

it possible for planning to advance in the direction of its objectives. On the other hand, the private subdividers and real estate people cooperated in the same manner.

It was to

their advantage to have a well studied plan approved by the different authorities, thereby saving the expense of hiring a planner to lay out the site for their subdivision.

In

this way they were assured that the proper neighborhood and community provisions were provided for their housing schemes. III.

THE MINISTRIES

The Town Planning Assistant, besides having contact on the local and regional level, has a closer contact with the Ministries and the Lancashire County Council.

This re­

lationship is as important as on the local level for it affects the final adoption or rejection of the plans.

75 The ministries directly concerned with planning are the Ministry of Town and Country Planning and the Ministry of Health.

Other ministries concerned with some aspects of

planning are the Ministry of Transport, Ministry of Agri­ culture and Fisheries, Ministry of Education, and the Board of Trade. The Ministry of Town and Country Planning deals with the approval of outline plans, detailed planning, zoning, and all other matters concerning planning;

The Ministry of

Health is concerned only with housing, housing estates, and health centers.

Design and layout of roads are the concern

of the Ministry of Transport; although this authority is delegated to the Lancashire County Council.

As for agri­

cultural land and allotments, the Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries is the major responsible body.. With respect to schools, the Lancashire County Council Education Author­ ity is the main concern, yet the Ministry of Education plays an important part in planning by requiring the location of 13 sites for Community Centers. The Board of Trade concerns itself mostly with industrial developments. There was great difficulty at times in achieving a solution acceptable to all the authorities, especially when

^ (London:

Ministry of Education, Community Centers His Majesty*s Stationery Office, 1945), p. IB.

decisions were made by letter*

The writer practiced this

method of approach when he first became Town Planning Assistant to the Huyton Council.

At times the delay took

months of correspondence and waiting resulting in a stand­ still with respect to planning. Anxious to achieve con­ structive goals and carry his duties to the desirable con­ clusion, it was important for the Planner to devise a new way of approach if full cooperation and unanimous approval were to be had.

This was effected by having conferences

with the responsible officers of the ministries, the Lancashire County Council and the Town Planning Assistant. These meetings were arranged by telephone and were held in Manchester, the center of government offices in Lancashire. Plans were presented for open discussion and decisions were arrived at with all members knowing the physical and politi cal problems facing the Planner.

These conferences were

most valuable to the Planner as he knew exactly what could be done to get unanimous ministerial approval and save valuable time lost in solving problems through correspond­ ence*

The procedure of adopting plans followed a simple

and direct line.

Layouts were roughly designed and intro­

duced to these conferences, then altered and drawn to scale Copies of these were sent to the authorities for written approval and at the same time presented to the Plans and Town Planning Committee.

Upon their recommendation, the

77 layout was passed by the council.

This line of procedure

facilitated one of the great problems facing the Planner. IV.

THE COUNTY COUNCIL

The county council is the authority which deals with some very important aspects of planning.

In respect to

urban districts, the county council is the planning author­ ity that deals with class two roads, and also the authority that deals with education and schools.

Class one main roads

are financed and dealt with by the Ministry of Transport, although this authority is delegated to the county council. Other roads are considered local and built by the subdividers and the district.

With the approval of the council, the ed­

ucational authorities in Lancashire County Council enforced and carried out the provisions of the Education Act, 1944, These conflicting authorities and powers are in time quite able to evolve a workable and non-conflicting solution. The planning powers have been mostly delegated to the local Planner with the provision of coming to agreement with responsible authorities on the final plans.

The Road

Engineer of the county council together with the Town Plann­ ing Assistant of Huyton discussed the main class one and two roads.

These were illustrated by road maps of Huyton and

drawn to a 1:2500 scale.

The Road Engineer*s work was con­

cerned with the design, specifications of roads, and

78 preparation for the final construction sheets drawn to a 1:500 scale.

This procedure went smoothly and the necessary

result and approval were achieved. Things were different in regard to the educational authorities in the Lancashire County Council.

When the

Education Act of 19^4 was passed, the county council made a survey of Huyton so as to enforce the act and get the vacant land for the location of schools.

In so doing they took into

consideration only the undeveloped land which could he used for this purpose, no consideration was given for the location of the schools and their accessability to homes.

This was

done prior to the time when the writer was appointed as Town Planning Assistant to Huyton.

Detailed planning showed that

ideally, schools should he proportionately located in neigh­ borhood units, hut proposals to relocate them were impossible as the county had already purchased the sites. ences were held hut no change could he effected.

A few confer­ The Planner

had a free hand only in locating nursery schools and one or two primary schools.

Such difficulty necessitated extreme

consideration of residential layouts so as to achieve safe and convenient access to and from homes.

CHAPTER V SPECIAL PLANNING- PROBLEMS The work and duties of the Planner were sometimes directed and affected by conflicting interests of pressure and political groups.

In such cases the Planner had to be

very careful to have the full support of the Surveyor and other higher authorities before making any proposals. A few cases which happened in Huyton will illustrate this point. I.

THE INDUSTRIAL ZONE

It had always been the aim and goal of the Huyton Council to develop an industrial zone but their goal did not materialize because the sites offered were not attractive.

The existing industrial site was unattractive

to new industries; it was without roads and proper facili­ ties so necessary to Induce new industries to develop. When the writer was first appointed he was requested to draw a plan for an industrial zone which would incorporate a site for a toy factory located on the main existing road from Liverpool to Warrington.

The site chosen by the

Council, the Factory Owner, the Clerk and the Surveyor was a good site for residential development but not for Industri­ al development.

It was difficult for the Town Planning

Assistant to convince the Surveyor and the Clerk that

80 another site would he better, especially when he had only been appointed a week previous to this incident.

This

change meant the rezoning of a site from residential to industrial and the approval of the Ministry of Town and Country Planning.

The plan for securing this change in

zoning was rejected by the Ministry.

As this decision did

not please the council, they requested an inquiry to be held in the council offices at Huyton.

The inquiry was com­

posed of representatives from the Council, the Factory Owner, the Board of Trade, the Public, the Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries, the Clerk, the Surveyor and the Regional Town Planning Officer of the Ministry of Town and Country Planning. hours.

The inquiry lasted for more than three

The Council, Board of Trade and all the other

different representatives were in favor of developing and extending the industrial zone.

It was only the Regional

Town Planning Officer of the Ministry of Town and Country Planning who was in opposition.

This inquiry helped the

writer to establish his position as Town Planning Assistant for he had warned the Council and the Surveyor previously of what would happen if they presented such proposals.

The

Regional Town Planning Officer spent more than four hours that day with the Surveyor and Clerk attempting to reach a decision but the extension of the industrial zone beyond seventy-five acres was not approved.

This extension was in

81 accordance with the Merseyside Plan of 1944.

The Surveyor,

respecting the remarks of the Town Planning Assistant with reference to the zoning of the industrial site, asked the Regional Town Planning Officer to a meeting in order to discuss the layout of the industrial zone. This decision shortened the line of contact for planning matters between the Ministry and the Town Planning Assistant and also helped in reaching an agreement between the two professional persons concerned.

As for the industri­

al zone, the Regional Officer and the Planner approved the extension of the industrial site to a fixed line which ex­ tended the area to about 150 acres.

This decision was based

on sound planning and pleased the Council and Surveyor as it extended their site to double the proposals in the Merseyside Plan. It is to be noted that the Ministry of Town and Country Planning is the final authority in dealing with planning matters. The council and interested parties could have gone to court, but knowing that they would have lost the case, were satisfied with extending the size of their site • The problem of the industrial zone did not stop at this point, as a matter of fact, it was just the beginning. The council was only interested in getting a favorable site for the toy factory; they did not realize the physical and

82 political difficulties facing the Planner.. The ministry would not accept the new location of the toy factory until the detailed planning was completed.

Existing industries

had to he taken care of so it was important that the layout he favorable and incorporate them into the plan.

It had to

take into consideration their future expansion on sound lines and at the same time plan to allow expansion in the proper direction. One of the existing factories was a brick factory which depended on excavating clay from the site for its production.

This resulted in countless pits covering the

site zoned for industry.

Besides, the physical level of the

land was not flat in all parts, as a matter of fact, a sixty foot varient difference between sites produced an awkward situation for a successful layout of prosperous Industry. The most difficult problem arose in the decision to limit the brick factory to a definite site where they would stop expanding the pit land.

Although the pits were filled after

usage, the land would be extremely expensive for building, as the cost of footings rise to fabulous sums.

It took the

Planner almost four months to get an agreement with the brick factory owners even though the Council had full power to stop their expansion and develop the land as they saw fit. Such powers could be viewed in some parts of the world as dictatorial and fringing on the freedom of the individual

rights.

However, it has been the writer’s observation that

these powers were never misused and that complete understand­ ing resulted in a solution which benefitted the community at large, the Council and the individual.

The difficulty

in this ease was due to the fact that the factory owner had a lease on 150 acres, most of which occupied the proposed Industrial zone.

Using only about ten acres of the site at

this time, he was hoping to use about ten more in the next twenty years.

The agreement finally reached allowed for

expansion to twelve more acres which would be adequate for the life of his property; an extension of twenty years.

The

twenty-two acres covered with pits were reserved for playing grounds and necessary facilities for workers in the way of canteen, recreation, health center and club.

Most of the

site was to be filled in and could be satisfactorily used for playing grounds.

Hoads were designed to surround this site

and the limit on pits was designated at a line fifty feet -Inside the nearest curb to his property. Other existing factories unanimously approved the layout of the industrial site, for it gave them excellent access to the main road and provided a freight station near their sites.

The toy factory now had a choice of many sites

and the Council promised to provide them with streets and different services the moment they decided to build.

The

layout was quite attractive for new industry sinbe it had all

84 the necessary modern facilities and in addition was near to residential areas. II.

THE CASE OF A CINEMA

The Plans and Town Planning Committee and the Council unanimously agreed on the requirements for neighborhood unit facilities in the neighborhood unit centers.

Such provisions

had to be settled before proceeding with any detailed plann­ ing.

A cinema house was to be provided for every two neigh­

borhood units.

The outline plan as approved by the Council

and other authorities concerned showed the neighborhood unit centers in existing and proposed development.

The Council

had delegated their power to a committee to negotiate with the city of Liverpool concerning the provisions of neighbor­ hood unit facilities required in the Liverpool housing estates in Huyton.

The city of Liverpool owned about one

quarter of Huyton and had been building new housing estates on their land as a private developer subject to the usual procedure of the approval of Huytonfs Council•

These hous­

ing estates were well designed and produced a high class of architecture in the district.

The only thing Liverpool

housing estates lacked was proper provision for community and neighborhood facilities.

The Council*s Committee had

agreed with Liverpool for the allocation of neighborhood unit facilities and the requirements in each according to the

85 standards proposed by the Town Planning Assistant and approved by the Council and different authorities. One of these provisions accepted by the committee and the Council was a site to be reserved for a cinema as part of the neighborhood center of one of the housing estates. A few weeks later a plan for this cinema was presented to the Town Planning Assistant who requested the Architect to pro­ vide for more parking facilities and incorporate a small shopping center in the scheme.

This plan and decision were

presented to the Plans and Town Planning Committee and sub­ sequently to the Council where recommendation was made for the Architect to make the change.

The Architect presented

three more sketches to the Surveyor who with the Town Plann­ ing Assistant approved the desirable plan and then recommend­ ed it to the Plans and Town Planning Committee for their approval.

The Committee rejected the plan on the grounds

that this particular neighborhood did not require a cinema. This decision was ratified by the Council. The Council and Plans and Town Planning Committee’s decision was based entirely on political reasons.

The

Architect for the cinema was a political leader of the Con­ servative party in Liverpool and a member of the Liverpool Council.

The plans which were rejected put the Surveyor

and the Town Planning Assistant in a difficult position because of their personal belief that a cinema, as well as

86 the shopping facilities, were required in this area. The Architect and private owner of the site appealed to the Ministry of Town and Country Planning and requested an inquiry.

The Ministry appointed an Inspector of the

Ministry to decide the case and the local inquiry was held in the Huyton Council Offices.

Both sides were represented;

the Huyton Council "by the Chairman of the Council, the Chair­ man of the Plans and Town Planning Committee, the Clerk, Surveyor, and a Barrister-at-Law.

The Architect was re­

presented by a Barrister-at-Law, the City Architect of Liver­ pool and the City Town Planning Officer as private individuals, the owner of the site and an interested person having a public house adjacent to the proposed cinema lot.

The inquiry, held

in the Council Chambers, was directed in the same manner as in any court of justice.

The Inspector presided and a Record­

er took the proceedings and happenings of the inquiry.

The

Inspector sat in place of the chairman-; on his immediate right sat the Recorder, then the representatives of the Plaintiff.

On the left sat the Surveyor, the Clerk, the

Barrister-at-Law, then the Chairman of the Council and councillors representing Huyton.

The Town Planning Assist­

ant, with the necessary maps, sat behind and to the right of the Surveyor.

The public was allowed to attend and give

evidence when so requested. The procedure of the inquiry was completely directed

87 by the Inspector.

He first asked the Plaintiffs' side to

present their case through the Barrister-at-Law; then he asked the Council's side to do likewise.

The procedure

continued, each side speaking in turn and the Inspector recording the important points to aid in making his decision. After the legal people had finished presenting their case, questions were asked by the Inspector.

Finally, the

Surveyor as the responsible professional man, had his turn. The Council was against the building of a cinema in this particular area because they felt that the community did not need one, even though the nearest cinema was about four miles away and it was the only cinema in the entire area. The argument against the Council was that they had previously approved the location of a cinema on this very site.

The

Clerk of the Council stated that to his knowledge a cinema was required in this -area and the Surveyor agreed. maps were presented to prove the need.

Planning

The inquiry lasted

for approximately three hours, with the entire case against the Council. The decision in such inquiries held by the Inspector of the Ministry of Town and Country Planning Is final and as his decision was in favor of building a cinema on that site, it was resolved that the powers of passing the plans for this cinema should be transferred to the Ministry.

The

Council was warned to be fair in the future interest of the

88 public and not act as a political entity. It is fair to say that officers of the council had complete freedom to present their evidence in opposition to the council*s decision in this inquiry.

This in the

opinion of the writer was democracy in action.

There was

respect between political and public representatives and professional officers during and after the inquiry. III.

THE CASE OF A OARAGE

A Karas® used for business in a residential area. When a plan has been accepted by the different authorities it becomes the responsibility of the planning officer and the officers of the Council to execute it and bring any future business or buildings to conform with the provisions of that scheme.

If any individual should start a business

without a license he would be subject to the removal, pulling down or altering of his buildings to conform with the pro­ visions of the scheme.

One of the Huyton councillors, who

was also a member of the Plans and Town Planning Committee, started a garage business in his privately owned garage with­ out getting a license or informing the Council.

When he was

reported for establishing a private business in a residential area he was requested to stop his business, remove the ex­ tensions recently made, and~~conform to the Town Planning Scheme which approved this type of business only in the

69 industrial zone or in the neighborhood center.

He failed

to conform and so it became the duty of the Clerk to serve the necessary notice requesting him to conform to the Town Planning Scheme and remove his business within six months, according to the Town and Country Planning Act, 1932, Section 13, which states: 13*— (1) Subject to the provisions of this section, the responsible authority may at any time— (b) remove, pull down or alter, so as to bring into conformity with the provisions of the scheme, any building or other work, not being an exist­ ing building or an existing work, which does not conform to those provisions, or in the erection or carrying out of which any provision of the scheme has not been complied with; or1 (2) Before taking any action under this section the responsible authority shall serve a notice in the pre­ scribed manner on the owner and on the occupier of the building or land in respect of which the action is pro­ posed to be taken and on any other person who, in their opinion, may be affected thereby, specifying the nature of, and the grounds upon which they propose to take, that action. The councillor did not conform but instead appealed to the court of summary jurisdiction to establish his busi­ ness according to Section 13, (4) of the same Act. (4) If any person served with such a notice as aforesaid desires to dispute any allegation contained therein, he may, by written notice served on the clerk

^ yown and Country Planning Act, 1932. Section 13, (1), (b) J London: His Majesty *s Stationery~Office). 2

Section 13, (2).

90 of the court and the authority within twenty-eight days from the date of the service of the original notice on him, appeal to a court of summary jurisdiction for the petty sessional division or place within which the property to which the notice relates is situated, and no action shall "be taken by the authority under sub­ section (1) of this section pending the final determi­ nation or withdrawal of the appeal. The case was settled by the court of summary juris­ diction on behalf of the council and the councillor was forced to conform to the plan at his expense.

^ Ibid., Section 13, (4).

CHAPTER VI SUMMARY AND CONCLUSION I.

SUMMARY

This thesis was prepared to discuss the problems of city planning in a local authority in England; the local authority being Huyton-With-Roby Urban District Council in Lancashire near Liverpool. The study as presented includes in brief the physical aspects of the plan of Huyton, the composition of the local authority in general, the procedure of adopting plans locally and on the higher governmental level, and the position of the Planner in relation to the public and different authorities. The Merseyside Plan of 1944 is mentioned to introduce Huyton as a part of a region rather than an independent isolated unit of planning#

The plan proposed was related to

a region covering an area of approximately four hundred fifty square miles and Including twenty-four local authorities whose common Intersts and activities were focused upon the Port of Liverpool and Central Merseyside towns— Liverpool and Bootle on the Lancashire side, and Birkenhead and m

Wallasey on the Cheshire side of the river. The Merseyside Plan took into consideration the region as a whole and presented its findings in the way of an Outline Plan; but detailed planning was left to be dealt

92 with by the planning authorities of the local jurisdictions. The last part of the thesis emphasizes the planning powers of the Local Authority and the Ministry of Town and Country Planning.

Specific cases are cited to illustrate

the course of these powers. The elements of the plan are discussed under the following topics. The street system.

The whole problem of planning

was approached from the safety angle.

This required a new

road classification which divided roads into three main types* namely:

the arterial road which is fenced off from all

riparian access and is connected to other roads at rare intervals by circles (roundabouts) or clover leafs; the subarterial road on which no buildings open directly and to which few side roads enter, but which is directly connected with the road system; and the local roads which are the roads for residence, business, shopping, industry, and amusement.

Their design should discourage the entrance of

through traffic of any kind. The neighborhood unit.

The neighborhood unit is the

smallest planning element in the city.

The population which

can support such a unit is roughly between five to ten thousand, with an area of approximately 335 acres.

The prin­

ciple idea behind the neighborhood unit is to allow a full

93 growth of community spirit and neighborhood feeling, but to ensure that its development takes place in such a way that each unit, while still essentially a single part of a greater whole, becomes a comprehensible entity in itself.

The neigh­

borhood was designed to be self-sufficient with respect to communal facilities and those facilities should be located so that residents may enjoy an ideal community spirit. Other elements of the plan.

The Civic Center, located

near the geographical center of the district and acting as the neuclous of the district, would include the town hall, main library, cinemas and theaters, main health center, public houses, hotel, fire and police stations, main district post office and a variety of office and government buildings. The industrial zone is located so as not to affect any residential dwellings with regard to smoke, noise, and prevailing winds. main roads*

Is is served by a railway station and two

The zone was designed on the same lines as the

neighborhood unit providing a center of activity with playing fields, canteen, clinic, club and other communal requirements in a centrally located area providing easy access to all factory workers. Open spaces in Huyton were reserved and divided into three groups:

private open spaces which include golf courses,

private clubs and school playing fields; public open spaces

94 which include public parks, ornamental parks and neighbor­ hood parks; and agricultural land, the sole purpose of which would be for agriculture... These open^spaces would become, so to speak, the lung to the whole residential development besides being a great factor in the social life and activi­ ties of the population. The local authority *

This is one of the .most impor­

tant responsible bodies for planning.

The council of Huyton

is composed of twenty-four councillors representing eight wards and presided over by a chairman elected by the council­ lors.

The Plans and Town Planning Committee of Huyton is

the main committee for planning, and the Surveyor is the re­ sponsible officer of the Council with respect to planning. Then comes the Town Planning Assistant who deals with town planning. The planning proposals, after being studied by the Town Planning Assistant, are sent to the different author­ ities responsible for passing plans.

These are the Ministry

of Town and Country Planning, the Ministry of Health for housing estates, the Ministry of Transport for roads, the Lancashire County Council for education and class one and class two roads, and the Plans and Town Planning Committee which is the committee that passes or otherwise plans for town planning proposals within the Huyton Council.

95 All persons intending to build are required to present plans to the Surveyor before a license is issued. These plans are examined by the Building Inspector, who sees that they follow the building by-laws; and by the Town Planning Assistant, who approves them from a planning and architectural point of view.

They then recommend the plans

to the Plans and Town Planning Committee.

Upon their approv

al, a building license is issued. The local authority has power to remove, pull down or alter any buildings or work to conform to the provision of the town planning scheme.

Notice must be served and the

person Involved has the right to appeal to the court of summary Jurisdiction.

The court has the final decision. II.

CONCLUSION

The trend in city planning in England should serve as a guide to other countries for eliminating the evils which exist in modern cities.

The prevailing powers in most

countries are not strong enough to have efficient control or to provide the professional planners with the necessary tools for doing a better Job.

The evils of m o d e m cities

are mostly due to the laissez-faire conditions*

Planning

in the past was controlled by military conditions which made it necessary that cities be planned to a precise scheme.

In

the last hundred years or so, new techniques of war and ways

96 of city life have changed this old idea of military planning. As a result, most cities have grown with very little plann­ ing control.

Today, new technological inventions will have

to hring planning under control.

The atomic and hydrogen

bombs are deadly enemies to large centralized populations. Growth of cities should be controlled again and populations decentralized into small cities surrounded by open green belts, self-supported with their business and industry.

This

type of city will care for its population and supply almost complete employment for its citizens.

The evils of city

growth without proper facilities for employment result from lack of planning.

It is simple today to destroy a city with

a population of over two million with one hydrogen bomb. However, if cities were decentralized to a population of 50,000, this type of bombing would be an extremely expensive proposition.

Small cities of this size, besides being sound

and logical units strategically speaking, will also induce community life to grow and flourish.

Such cities, properly

planned, with ample playing fields, open spaces, and communal facilities, would eliminate the great evils of our m o d e m cities which exist and will continue to exist if there is no control. It should be remembered that cities are not only the ownership of the present generation but the ownership of future generations as well.

The private ownership of a piece

97 of land does not give its owner the right to do whatever he pleases.

The land belongs to the city, to the country, to

the world, and to the future generations.

Paris is un­

doubtedly a city of the world; thanks to the great Kings who introduced proper and orderly planning.

London, on the

other hand, after its burning in 1666, had a great opportunity to be one of the most beautiful cities, but lost its chance because of private enterprise and ownership.

It goes without

saying that we have a great heritage to give to the next generations.

It is important then to provide the necessary

facilities so that planners have the freedom to design for the benefit of the community as a whole.

Any plan for a

community which does not provide the necessary community facilities is bound to be a failure. Most of the new housing estates now being built in all parts of the world are but dormitories and grouping of houses facing on to streets for the population working in cities. At a crowded intersection, where the traffic movement is greatest, one can find the community facilities, schools, and shops.

This is the most unreasonable and dangerous method

for planning to continue.

With these unsound conditions in

operation, safety councils advertise for people to drive carefully, while the main cause for accidents has not been cured.

Human nature cannot change overnight, laws cannot

be enforced by signs or policemen on each corner; it Is only

98 proper planning in this case that can change the direction of people toward wholesome action.

If zoning has proved

itself to he a failure, then another system needs to he devised. The writer Is quite confident to say that if cities were properly designed more than half of their existing streets would satisfactorily he eliminated and at the same time the remaining streets could adequately serve the exist­ ing populations.

This would result in more open spaces for

the residential areas, thereby saving the cost of street paving and providing safety to residents.

This would also

save the subdividers, the city, and property owners millions of dollars; that is if they were properly advised as to the most wholesome layouts.

Taxes appropriated for the keeping

of unnecessary streets would he eliminated.

All this would

allowr for houses to he grouped around green belts rather than around main thoroughfares.

It remains to be-said that such

proposals cannot he achieved except by detailed planning and by cooperation between the subdividers and the professional city planners.

If the subdivider knows that he can save

money on his subdivision, derive more benefit from his land, and at the same time have a first-class, ideal layout which is not apt to be blighted in the near future, he would un­ doubtedly be the first to back such proposals and help the responsible planning people to have more authority.

It

99 remains for the planners to introduce such layouts and coupled with statistics to show the subdividers and the public at large a picture of the ideal community life. This in the opinion of the writer is not too difficult to achieve providing detailed planning of cities is made a law by the responsible authorities•

These plans then may be re­

vised every five years to allow for new technological inven­ tions and change in living. Residential developments should be incorporated in neighborhood units with the necessary community facilities. These neighborhood units should have unified density through­ out the city, thus providing wholesome conditions everywhere. This would allow people working in cities and living in out­ side areas because of over-crowded conditions, to live in a happy community near their work; hereby eliminating the over­ crowding on roads and the unnecessary driving to and from their place of business. It is a stern fact and statistics show that people living in Chicago spend nine years of their life in the dangers and strain of travel to and from work.

Other cities,

such as Los Angeles, would undoubtedly show a higher rate. This time lost could be used in a more constructive and en­ joyable manner providing neighborhoods were planned with the same unified density. A detailed plan, with the necessary facilities in-

100 corporated for every piece of land, should supersede*

It is

not good practice when we allow the growth of a city to continue without detailed planning of the unit as a whole* If this is possible in other countries such as England, then it must he feasible here too. The only solution is to give the professional planner the powers and tools whereby he can provide for a better and more wholesome city for both the present and future gener­ ations.

However, the planner needs to be educated in the

proper way; a way which means the upholding and execution of ideals so important to the happiness of the people everywhere and at all times. The planner is the unknown master of the community and upon his judgment in planning rests the prosperity and well-being of a city, or a community, not for one generation but for many generations to come.

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Bassett, Edward M., The Master Plan. New York:Russell Sage Foundation, 19381 151 PP. A discussion of the Theory of Community Land Planning Legislation. Breasted, James.Henry, A History of Egypt From the Earliest Times to the Persian Conquest* New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 19121 634 pp. Chapin, Stuart, Jr., Communities for Living. Athens: The University of Georgia Press, 194l1 56 pp.. Prepared for the Advisory Panel on Regional Materials of Instruction for the Tennessee Valley. Churchill, Henry S., The City Is The People. New York: Reynal and Hitchcock, 1945. 186 pp. Clarke, John J., An Introduction To Planning. London: Cleaver-Hume Press Lts., 1948• 131 pp. _______, The Law of Housing and Planning. London: Isaac Pitman and Sons, Ltd., 1937. 454 pp.

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McLean, W. H., Regional and Town planning in Principle and Practice. London: Crosby Lockwood and Son, 1930. 148 pp. Mumford, Lewis, City Development. London: Warburg, 1 9 4 6 . 1 9 9 PP* Studies in disintegration and renewal. _______, The Culture of Cities. Warburg, 1945 . 530 pp•

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Action For Cities. A Guide for Community Planning. Published under the Sponsorship of American Municipal Association, American Society of Planning Officials, International City Managers* Association. Publication No. 86. Chicago: Public Administration Service, 1945. 77 pp. Britain*s Town and Country Pattern. A summary of the Barlow, Scott, and Uthwatt Reports, prepared by Nuffield College Social Reconstruction Survey, introduction by G.D. Cole. London: Faber and Faber Ltd., 1943. Ill pp* Churchill, Henry S., and Roslyn Ittleson, Neighborhood Design and Control. An analysis of the Problems of

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106 Reconditioning in Rural Areas ♦ Fourth. Report of the Rural Housing Sub-Committee of the Central Housing Advisory Committee* London: His Majesty’s Stationery Office, 1947. 48 pp. Replanning Britain* A summarized report of the Oxford Conference of the Town and Country Planning Association, Spring, 1941. Edited by F. E* Towndrow. London: Faber and Faber Ltd., 1942. 173 PP* Report of the Central Advisory Committee on Estate Development and Management in War-Damaged Areas. Ministry of Town and Country Planning. London: His Majesty’s Stationery Office, 1947* 48 pp. Standards for Healthful Housing, Planning the Neighborhood. American Public Health Association, Committee on Hygiene of Housing. Chicago: Public Administration Service, 1948. 90 pp. The New Planning, Re-development and Re-location. A report of the Town and Country Planning Association’s National Conference on New Planning 8th and 9th, December 1944, edited by Barbara Bliss. London: Faber and Faber Ltd., 1944. 116 pp. Town and Country Planning Act, 1932♦ Majesty#s Stationery Office.

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