What was Britain's first designated New Town, established by the New Towns Act 1945?
New towns movement town construction”. These innovative Acts resulted in a total of 28 New Towns being constructed in Britain over the following half-century It was in 1946 that the hard work of the ‘New Townsmen’ finally paid off with the passing of the New Towns Act 1946. Swayed by the need for post-war reconstruction, more housing, and a call to halt any further expansion of London’s girth, authorities saw that there was no alternative to the New Town solution. In total, 27 New Towns were built after 1946. These were: Stevenage, Crawley, Hemel Hempstead, Harlow, Hatfield, Basildon, Bracknell and Milton Keynes outside
New Towns Act 1946 major conurbations including Manchester and Birmingham. The 1945 Attlee Government set up a New Towns Commission to formally consider how best to repair and rebuild urban communities ravaged in World War II. In 1945 Lord Reith of Stonehaven was appointed as chair of the New Towns Commission. The commission concluded that there was a need to construct new towns using the instrument of development corporations supported by central government. The New Towns Act 1946 cemented this vision in 1946 and New Towns were born. The 1946 Act was extensively revised in 1965 and 1981. The Reith Commission recommended that: The