Saving the Flats: The Wanstead Flats campaign of 1946 (part 1)

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This article has been reproduced with the kind permission of Eastside Community Heritage – http://www.hidden-histories.org.uk/wordpress

The campaign against the attempted enclosure of Wanstead Flats by Henry Wellesley, Earl Cowley in 1871 and its eventual inclusion within the Epping Forest Act of 1878 is well documented. Less well known is another campaign 75 years later against the compulsory purchase of around half of Wanstead Flats for housing development immediately after the Second World War. This article will highlight this hidden history that had a profound impact on both Wanstead Flats and the social geography of West Ham County Borough.

Like many post Second World War stories it starts during the 1930s. Wanstead Flats immediately to the north of Forest Gate was a popular destination for local people. Organised events such as the fairs, bands and music hall performance at the bandstand, boating and fishing on the lakes and sport such as football and cricket, drew people from a wide area. Many people also appreciated an open space to escape the crowded housing and industrial development of West Ham and wider East London. Indeed, Wanstead Flats has been recognised as a vital green space or “wedge” by the London County Council (LCC) in 1935 and the City of London as Conservator of Epping Forest organised a conference held at the Guildhall in 1939 to develop proposals for its improvements.

Any development was postponed by the outbreak of war in September 1939 and Wanstead Flats itself hosted a variety of civilian and military uses during the Second World War. These included allotments, anti-aircraft gun batteries, barrage balloons and bomb shelters. The bandstand was to be a collection point for salvaged wood from bomb damaged buildings and surplus food grown on the allotments. Later, parts of the Flats were closed off for use as a troop assembly point before and during the invasion of France in 1944. The area was also used as a German Prisoner of War camp. By 1945, using emergency wartime powers 102 “hutments” were already housing West Ham residents on the area north of Capel Road and East Ham borough authorities proposed temporary housing between Manor Park and Aldersbrook.

The Second World War had a serious impact on the housing stock within West Ham which had been severely damaged during World War Two. The Royal Docks and associated industry had been primary targets (Target A), for the Luftwaffe air raids. During the London Blitz of 1940-41 thousands of high explosive and incendiary bombs had fallen on the area. Later, 68 V1 flying bombs and 33 V2 rockets hitting the area added to the destruction. In total 14,000 houses were destroyed and many more were damaged within West Ham. By 1945 23 % of West Ham was designated as severely war damaged and was described as an area of “rubble strewn gaps and patched houses.”

Although the population of West Ham had continued to decline from a high of around 320,000 people in the mid 1920s around 50,000 people were expected to return from evacuation or military service at the end of the war. By 1946 West Ham council had over 10,000 people awaiting homes. Many homeless people were crowded into unsuitable housing or living in temporary “Rest Centres”, often in local schools which were returning to educational use. Some people resorted to squatting. West Ham council reported squatters in former military huts on Wanstead Flats during the “Squatting Summer” of 1946. Other people were forced to live outside of the area splitting up families and friends. Diaries of the period record the despair and strain of overcrowding. People scoured the small ads in newspapers and shop windows for rooms to let and Daltons Weekly became required reading for home hunters.

Development on Wanstead Flats had already received the support of Aneurin Bevan, Minister of Heath in the newly elected Labour Government. Bevan, the leftwing MP for Ebbw Vale, was acutely aware that housing would be a defining issue for the government. He had pledged to build 200,000 houses a years. Although as Minster of Health, Bevan was ultimately responsible for housing policy, responsibility for delivery was divided between the Ministries of Health, Works and Town and Country Planning. The housing itself would actually be built by local authorities. Even with this unwieldy division, wags opined that Bevan had “Half a Nye on housing”, Bevan was determined to provide new housing quickly for the war weary population and was frustrated with any delays.

In January 1946, speaking in a debate in the House of Commons about the emergency housing situation in East Ham he declared:

“The people must have shelter… The Commoners of Epping Forest must surrender to the overwhelming needs of the people.”

The 1944 Town and Country Planning Act introduced by the wartime coalition government led by Winston Churchill had given local authorities sweeping powers to deal with “blitz and blight” through reconstruction and redevelopment. To alleviate the housing situation West Ham council was determined to quickly provide better housing for the post-war population. It had already launched the “Homes Now” campaign to pressure the government over delays in providing finance and materials for housing.

See here for the second part of this feature – http://eastendhowler.wordpress.com/2010/10/01/saving-the-flats-the-wanstead-flats-campaign-of-1946-part-2/

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