This article has been reproduced with the kind permission of Eastside Community Heritage – http://www.hidden-histories.org.uk/wordpress
In March 1946 the decision was made by West Ham council to make an application under the Town and Country Planning Act to compulsory purchase 163 acres of Wanstead Flats between Capel and Aldersbrook roads, the majority of which lay outside of the borough boundaries. This land would be used for the building of homes to house around 7000 people. West Ham council noted that the London County Council (LCC) had already made applications for land in Chingford and Chigwell for housing outside of its boundaries. West Ham council were influenced by the idea of self contained cottage estates located away from heavy industry. There had been a move of population from the more heavily damaged areas in the south to the north of West Ham and the open land of Wanstead Flats was an obvious target for development
The West Ham proposals were opposed by the City of London Forest through the Epping Forest Committee, Sir Frank Alexander as Lord Mayor of London wrote personally to Bevan criticising the proposals which were also opposed by the all neighbouring local councils.
A spirited local campaign was organised with Stanley Reed, a West Ham schoolteacher and Lakehouse Estate resident, acting as secretary of the Wanstead Flats Defence Committee. This organised a broad based coalition of over 160 organisations including trade union branches, religious groups, political parties and sports organisations who came together to oppose the proposals. The committee organised public meetings, house canvassing, letter writing campaigns and lobbied local politicians
The campaign also cut across party political allegiance with Leah Manning the Labour MP for Epping being a vocal opponent of the proposed developments and presenting Parliament with a 60,000 signature petition against the plans. Mrs. Manning spoke at many meetings against the proposals and attacked the plans during a Parliamentary debate as “vandalism.”
Alicia Reed, the wife of Stanley Reed who was interviewed in 2007 about the campaign remembers: “Leah Manning [MP]… said she was going to sit down in front of the bulldozers and was very outspoken”.
Lewis Silkin, Minister for Town and Country Planning, and a former Chair of Planning for the LCC, established a public inquiry into the compulsory purchase. This opened on the 2nd December 1946 at West Ham Town Hall, Stratford (now the Old Town Hall). It lasted 4 days and at times was punctuated by acrimonious exchanges. Amid catcalls from the public gallery the West Ham Town Clerk described the inquiry as a battle between “haves and have-nots.” This was followed by cries of “shame!” when Wanstead Flats was described as an “unattractive open space.”
Following the inquiry (the deliberations taking place during the coldest winter of the twentieth century, locally Alexandra Lake froze) the decision was made in April 1947 to reject the application. However Silken did accept that the compulsory purchase was not “ultra vires” (beyond the power) and the 1878 Epping Forest Act did not exempt the land from an attempt to compulsory purchase it.
West Ham Council went on to embark on a comprehensive redevelopment programme across the borough which Stanley Reed documented in his film “Neighbourhood 15”. Mr. Reed was elected onto Wanstead and Woodford council as an independent councillor for Park Ward and later went on to become the director of the British Film Institute. He later wrote that: “My part in the saving of Wanstead Flats is the single achievement of my life of which I am unreservedly proud.” West Ham and East Ham councils jointly prepared proposals for development in the Pitsea and Laindon areas of Essex, although ultimately the development was undertaken by the Basildon Development Corporation.
The proposals by East Ham council for permanent development for schools by on Manor Park Triangle were eventually rejected following a public inquiry in the early 1950s
For Wanstead Flats, the City of London established a joint committee with West Ham, East Ham, Wanstead and Woodford and Leyton councils to look at development of Wanstead Flats on modern lines which produced some proposals which were implemented during the 1950s and is still widely used today.
This episode in the history of the area highlights the tension that existed and still exists today between preservation and development. Certainly, Wanstead Flats was a designated open space and was described as such in the Abercrombie’s Plan for London. However it is also true that West Ham was attempting to follow guidance to separate housing from industrial development. Illustrations by courtesy of Newham Archives and Local Studies Library.
See here for the first part of this feature – http://eastendhowler.wordpress.com/2010/09/05/saving-the-flats-the-wanstead-flats-campaign-of-1946-2/
