Britwell

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Britwell Estate
Britwell Estate shown within Berkshire
OS grid reference	SU955825
Unitary authority	Slough
Ceremonial county	Berkshire
Region	South East
Constituent country	England
Sovereign state	United Kingdom
Post town	Slough
Postcode district	SL2
Dialling code	01753
Police	Thames Valley
Fire	Royal Berkshire
Ambulance	South Central
European Parliament	South East England
UK Parliament	Slough
List of places: UK • England • Berkshire

Coordinates: 51°32′01″N 0°37′26″W / 51.5337, -0.6238

The place now known as the Britwell Estate was originally farm land. It is situated on the north-west of Slough, a unitary authority in Berkshire in the south of England, about 23 miles west of London.

The name Britwell derives from the old English beorhtan wiellan meaning 'bright, clear well'.

Modern-day Britwell, which has the well-defined geographic boundaries of Farnham Lane (in the north), Lower Britwell Road and Haymill Road (to the west), Whittaker Road and Northborough Road (south) and Long Readings Lane (east), was created as a large overspill housing estate for bombed-out Londoners^{[citation needed]} at the end of the Second World War. Britwell was one of a number of London County Council (LCC) estates built at the time, with other estates in places including Langley and Swindon. The first of 11,000 tenants arrived in August 1956 and were delighted with the "roomy and modern" houses, complete with large swivel windows – "a boon to housewives". There was a dearth of amenities at first, but after the founding of the community association in 1959, the estate finally got a bus service into Slough, and a community centre in 1966.

The major additions to Britwell have been Wavell Gardens, a depressing and overcrowded^{[citation needed]} housing development created on the Rokesby Road recreation field by Slough Borough Council (SBC) and the Beechwood Estate created on the southern end of Warrenfield (now renamed Beechwood) School's playing fields by SBC, Airways Housing and Toynbee Housing. Elsewhere on the estate, houses in Cowper Road are of two distinctive types. The north side was built as part of the original LCC Britwell Estate. The south side was built later by SBC.

When the Britwell Estate was created, its postal address was Farnham Royal, near Slough. Its local authority was Eton Rural District Council (ERDC) which in 1974 was replaced by Beaconsfield District Council (SBDC), although at this point all of the estate became part of the Borough of Slough, and with the rest of that borough became part of Berkshire, rather than Buckinghamshire. Its original bus services were London Transport's 484, 441, 400 and Thames Valley Traction Company's 64 and later 70.

As Slough expanded, its northern boundary was moved from Northborough Road to Long Furlong Drive putting about a third of Britwell's housing into the borough. The 1974 expansion of Slough moved the northern boundary to Farnham Lane which then placed all of the Britwell Estate within the borough of Slough.

In 1968, the LCC was one of a number of authorities replaced by the Greater London Council (GLC). When the GLC was abolished, the LCC/GLC social housing on Britwell and in Langley was transferred to Slough Borough Council. LCC/GLC mortgages were transferred to the Royal Borough of Kingston upon Thames.

SBC's control of Britwell's remaining social housing, some of the original homes having been bought by their tenants, began a decline in living standards and housing and roads maintenance.

Britwell, like the entire borough of Slough, was transferred from Buckinghamshire to Berkshire on 1 April 1974. A civil parish was established at that point for the part of the estate that had previously lain in the Burnham civil parish. The current Parish Council has 13 parish councillors and covers approximately 60% of the Britwell Estate.

The Britwell Electoral ward includes the Parish area and extends westwards to the Five Points crossroads in Burnham, has 3 borough councillors. The southern part of Long Readings Lane and the south side of Cowper Road became part of the Britwell ward for the first time in 2004 as a result of a suggestion by then SBC Conservative Group research assistant Eva Antao to the Boundary Commission (now part of the Electoral Commission). See Slough local elections for links to recent Borough election results.

Britwell used to be renowned throughout the local area for its high rate of petty crime.^[1] In 2002 bus drivers refused to drive through there at night because of repeated incidents of 3 pre-teenage boys throwing stones at buses.^{[citation needed]}.

The Parish Council have now provided a building for use as a Neighbourhood Police Office within their parish ground this is now well used by the local beat team, PCSO's and community wardens. The actual police office can be seen at www.slough.info/britwell/b08/b08.html

Britwell's row of shops featured as a backdrop in the dystopia themed movie V for Vendetta. Britwell has also featured in the ITV drama Torn