Crawley New Town

Papers relating to the development of Crawley New Town between 1946 and c1982. The collection holds: minutes of the Advisory Committee 1946-1948; minutes of the Crawley Development Corporation 1947-1962; Corporation board papers 1946-1962; minutes of the Finance Committee 1948-1962; minutes of the General Manager’s Committee 1961-1962; minutes of the Staff Committee 1948-1958; minutes of the Staff Association 1948-1976; minutes of the Staff Joint Consultative Committee 1962-1963; minutes of the Economic and Social Research Committee 1948-52; minutes of Crawley Local Committee 1962-1976; minutes of Weir Wood Water Board 1950-1959; minutes of Working Party on Street Lighting 1949; minutes of the Crawley New Town Licensed Premises 1951-1962; papers of the Chairman and Chief Executive including annual reports 1949-1962, minutes of public meetings 1948-1960, and grant of arms; administrative files covering all aspects of the New Town 1946-1982; master plans 1949, maps and architectural drawings 1947-1982; compulsory purchase orders 1950-1964; terriers, land acquisitions and disposals volumes 1948-1978; papers of the Research Section and Information Officer 1948-1979; reports and publications on the New Town 1950-1999; and photographs of the New Town in various formats 1949-1980, and aerial photographs 1940s-1970s.
The collection is structured into eight sections:
1. Minutes
2. Management
3. Administration
4. Architect and Engineer
5. Estates and Information
6. Research and Information
7. Reports and Publications
8. Photographs

Records which are part of accessions 04580, 05626, 09819, 14128, 14372, and 14763 were deposited by Homes England (and its predecessors) and were previously stored in a central records management facility by the Commission for New Towns (and subsequently its successors).

In 1946 the New Towns Act was passed in response to increasing concerns about the lack of quality housing in London. In the years following the Act, a number of locations across the country were designated as areas for new town development. Crawley was designated in 1947, just after Stevenage in Hertfordshire. Crawley Development Corporation was formed to manage the building of the new town, led by a small team of executives overseeing it. The executive board members included Dame Caroline Haslett, H A Benson, Ivy Molly Bolton, James Marshall, and Eric Walter Pasold. The chairman of the Corporation was architect Sir Thomas Penberthy Bennett. The Corporation bought Broadfield House in Crawley and made it their headquarters.

The master plan for Crawley was initially drawn up by Thomas Wilfred Sharp, at the request of the Corporation?s first chairman Sir Wilfred Lindell, but both men resigned within a year. The master plan was then developed and finalised by Anthony Minoprio and published in December 1947; it is his vision that can be seen in Crawley today. In addition to the board, the Corporation hired over one hundred members of staff across seven different departments. These departments included architects, engineers, estates, legal, administrative, and domestic employees.

By 1962, the Corporation had completed building eight out of the nine planned residential neighbourhoods. The inner neighbourhoods were West Green, Three Bridges, Northgate and Southgate. The outer neighbourhoods were Langley Green, Pound Hill, Ifield, Tilgate and Gossops Green. The Corporation was discerning with its build designs and desired all new housing to have variation across the neighbourhoods. They also tried to maintain a consistent quality of life for early residents as building continued into the 1960s.

As well as building homes for 60,000 incoming migrants from London boroughs, the Corporation also developed industrial areas and encouraged London firms to move their business into the town, hoping that this would bring employees and their families with them. Firms such as APV Company fared especially well, and it was estimated that one in ten employed residents worked for them. Overall, the Corporation made sure that there was a variety in industrial companies in the town. Crawley's proximity to Gatwick was also considered from the beginning, which saw the Corporation work alongside the Government with regards to plans in the event of an expansion of the airport. Provision for shops and amenities was also a concern, and the research teams gathered much information on requirements.

The Corporation was made a water authority in 1948 and they were subsequently responsible for establishing water utilities across Crawley. The Corporation opened the Weir Wood Reservoir in 1954 and this still serves the area. A sewage works was also opened in 1951. Provision for electricity was the responsibility of electricity companies and local councils, but the Corporation arranged for committees in order to manage this provision effectively as the population grew.

By the late 1950s, the work of the original Corporation was largely complete and they were able to hand over some responsibilities to Crawley District Council. In April 1962 the Corporation was dissolved, and remaining projects and assets transferred to the national Commission for New Towns. However, the government at the time pressured the Commission to sell new town assets worth around £120 million during 1981-82, and by 1982 the Commission no longer had the power or managerial duties it once did. In 1998, the Commission had little in the way of land or property to manage in England, and was dissolved.