County of London Plan

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The County of London Plan was prepared for the London County Council by J. H. Forshaw and Patrick Abercrombie in 1943.

Its main purpose was to point out the main directions of development and reconstruction of London, which in the past decades had faced big changes and irregular growth. It was prepared in anticipation of the end of World War II and the reconstruction after bomb damage and large movements of population.

It particularly focused on five defects of London, to which the plan proposed remedies. The defects were:

  • traffic congestion
  • depressed housing
  • inadequacy and maldistribution of open spaces
  • jumble of houses and industries
  • sprawl of London and consequent suburbanisation of surrounding country towns

[edit] Ring roads

One of the proposed solutions was a number of ring roads around the capital. Construction would have involved considerable disruption, even through parts of the city damaged by bombs, and the roads were not built. However, the "C Ring" (the third ring out from the city centre) was to include what is now the South Circular Road. The plan to build a high-quality road was not realised but the semi-circular route was assigned to existing roads through the southern suburbs. A similar plan was revisited in the 1960s under the name of the London Ringways.

[edit] Predecessors

In 1937, Sir Edwin Lutyens and Sir Charles Bressey had published a Ministry of Transport report, The Highway Development Survey, which reviewed London's road needs and recommended the construction of many miles of new roads and the improvement of junctions at key congestion points. Amongst their proposals was the provision of a series of orbital roads around the city with the outer ones built as American-style Parkways — wide, landscaped roads with limited access and grade separated junctions.

[edit] See also

[edit] References

  • J. H. Forshaw and Patrick Abercrombie, County of London Plan, Macmillan & Co. 1943.
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