NationMaster - Encyclopedia: Council house

The council house is a form of public housing found in the United Kingdom, more usually called social housing today. Council houses were built and operated by local councils for the benefit of the local population. As of 2005, approximately 20 per cent of the country's housing stock is owned by local councils or by housing associations. The largest council estate in the country (and one of the largest in the world)^[1] is Becontree, Dagenham, with a population of over 100,000. Building started in the 1920s and took nearly 20 years to finish. Shortcut: WP:-( Vandalism is indisputable bad-faith addition, deletion, or change to content, made in a deliberate attempt to compromise the integrity of the encyclopedia. ... Shortcut: WP:-( Vandalism is indisputable bad-faith addition, deletion, or change to content, made in a deliberate attempt to compromise the integrity of the encyclopedia. ... Image File history File links De_beauvoir_estate_1. ... Image File history File links De_beauvoir_estate_1. ... De Beauvoir Town [dÄ“ bÅ-vwÃ¤r toun] is a district in the East London Borough of Hackney, England. ... East London area East London is the name commonly given to the north eastern part of London, England on the north side of the River Thames. ... A local authority tower block in CwmbrÃ¢n, South Wales Public housing or project homes is a form of housing tenure in which the property is owned by a government authority, which may be central or local. ... A municipality is an administrative entity composed of a clearly defined territory and its population and commonly referring to a city, town, or village, or a small grouping of them. ... 2005 is a common year starting on Saturday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Housing associations in the United Kingdom are independent not-for-profit bodies that provide low cost housing for people in housing need. ... Becontree is a place in the London Borough of Barking and Dagenham in East London, 11. ... Dagenham is a suburban town in east London, in the London Borough of Barking and Dagenham, situated 12 miles (19. ...

The Republic of Ireland has a similar public housing system, Local Authority Accommodation. Local Authority Accommodation has been provided in Ireland by the various County Councils and City Corporations along with Urban District Councils. ...

Origins

The pressure for decent housing arose from overcrowding in the large cities in the 19th century, and many social commentators (such as Octavia Hill) reported on the squalour, sickness and perceived immorality that arose. Some philanthropists had begun to provide housing in tenement blocks, while some factory owners built entire villages for their workers such as Saltaire (1853), Bournville (1879), Port Sunlight, Stewartby, and Silver End as late as 1925. Alternative meaning: Nineteenth Century (periodical) (18th century — 19th century — 20th century — more centuries) As a means of recording the passage of time, the 19th century was that century which lasted from 1801-1900 in the sense of the Gregorian calendar. ... Octavia Hill (Wisbech, 1838 - 1912) was an English social reformer, particularly concerned with the welfare of the inhabitants of cities, specifically London, in the second half of the 19th century. ... A philanthropist is someone who engages in philanthropy; that is, someone who donates his or her time, money, or reputation to a charitable cause. ... A red brick apartment block in central London, England, on the north bank of the Thames An apartment building, block of flats or tenement is a multi-unit dwelling made up of several (generally four or more) apartments (US) or flats (UK). ... Saltaire is the name of a Victorian era model village in the metropolitan borough of Bradford, West Yorkshire, England, by the River Aire and the Leeds and Liverpool Canal. ... Bournville is an area on the south side of Birmingham, best known for its connections with the Cadbury family and chocolate - including a dark chocolate bar branded Bournville. It is also home to a campus of the Birmingham Institute of Art and Design. ... Port Sunlight Port Sunlight is a village on the Wirral (in the North West of England). ... Stewartby is a model village in Bedfordshire, originally built for the workers in the local brickworks. ... Silver End is a small village in the Braintree district in Essex. ...

It was not until 1885, when a Royal Commission was held, that the state took an interest. This led to the Housing of the Working Classes Act 1890, which encouraged local authorities to improve the housing in their areas. As a consequence the London County Council opened the Boundary Estate in 1900, and many local councils began building flats and houses in the early 20th century. The First World War indirectly provided a new impetus, when the poor physical health and condition of many urban recruits to the army was noted with shock and alarm. This led to a campaign known as Homes fit for heroes and in 1919 the Government first required councils to provide housing, helping them to do so through the provision of subsidies, under the Housing Act 1919. Many houses were built in cottage estates as in Downham Estate as well as in blocks of flats. In states that are Commonwealth Realms a Royal Commission is a major government public inquiry into an issue. ... London County Council emblem is still seen today on buildings, especially housing, from that era London County Council (LCC) was the principal local government body for the County of London from 1889 until 1965, when it was replaced by the Greater London Council. ... The Boundary Estate is a housing development, formerly opened in 1900, in the East End of London, England. ... Year 1900 (MCM) was an exceptional common year starting on Monday (link will display the full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar, but a leap year starting on Saturday of the Julian calendar. ... (19th century - 20th century - 21st century - more centuries) Decades: 1900s 1910s 1920s 1930s 1940s 1950s 1960s 1970s 1980s 1990s As a means of recording the passage of time, the 20th century was that century which lasted from 1901–2000 in the sense of the Gregorian calendar (1900–1999... â€œThe Great War â€ redirects here. ... The British Army is the land armed forces branch of the British Armed Forces. ... The Downham Estate is a housing estate in Downham, south east London. ...

While new council housing had been built, little had been done to resolve the problem of inner city slums. This was to change with the Housing Act 1930, which required councils to prepare slum clearance plans, and some progress was made before the Second World War intervened. A boy from an East Cipinang trash dump slum in Jakarta, Indonesia shows his find. ... Mushroom cloud from the nuclear explosion over Nagasaki rising 18 km into the air. ...

Heyday

Following the Second World War there was a major boom in council house construction, since nearly four million houses had been destroyed or damaged during its course.^[2] As well as this, slum clearance programmes were promoted.

In the immediate post-War years and well into the 1950s council house provision was shaped by the New Towns Act 1946 and the Town and Country Planning Act 1947. Houses were typically semi-detached or in small terraces. A three-bedroom semi-detached council house was typically built on a 7 by 7 yd (6.4 by 6.4 m) grid and at a density of no more than 12 houses per acre (337 m² per house), meaning that most houses had generous space around them. The new towns and many existing towns had countless estates built to this basic model. In 1945 Lord Reith was appointed as chair of the government sponsored New Towns Committee. ... Prinicpal planning Act of Parliament of the United Kingdom, the Town and Country Planning Act 1947 established the principles and mechanisms of the Plan Lead System. ... Semi-detached housing (usually abbreviated to semi, as in three-bedroom semi) consists of pairs of houses built side by side as units sharing a party wall and usually in such a way that each houses layout is a mirror image of its twin. ... A street of British Victorian/Edwardian terraced homes. ... A new town, planned community or planned city is a city, town, or community that was designed from scratch, and grew up more or less following the plan. ...

For many working class people, this housing model provided the first experience of private garden space (usually front and rear) and the first private and indoor toilets and bathrooms. The term working class is used to denote a social class. ... A garden is a planned space, usually outdoors, set aside for the display, cultivation, and enjoyment of plants and other forms of nature. ... Flush toilet. ... A typical American bathroom A bathroom is a room that may have different functions depending on the cultural context. ...

Towards the end of the 1950s the influence of modernist architecture and the development of new construction techniques such as system building (a form of prefabrication) led to this model being abandoned in Britain's inner city areas. Instead tower blocks became the preferred model. The argument was that more dwellings could be provided this way (a claim that research at the LSE has cast serious doubt on^[3]. For Modernism in an American context, see American modernism. ... This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ... The term inner-city is often applied to the poorer parts at the centre of a major city. ... It has been suggested that this article be split into multiple articles. ... The London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE) is a specialist constituent college of the University of London. ...

Central government (under both the Conservative and Labour parties) saw the provision of housing as a major part of its policy, and provided subsidies for local authorities to build such housing. System building proved to have serious flaws and flats - which were initially very popular due to their generous space standards - suffered many problems, especially poor protection from damp, weather ingress, but also more serious design defects. Image File history File linksMetadata Size of this preview: 800 Ã— 202 pixelsFull resolution (3264 Ã— 824 pixel, file size: 833 KB, MIME type: image/jpeg) Photograph taken in a public location in the UK of a building on permanent public display, and exempt from copyright under Section 62 of the Copyright... Image File history File linksMetadata Size of this preview: 800 Ã— 202 pixelsFull resolution (3264 Ã— 824 pixel, file size: 833 KB, MIME type: image/jpeg) Photograph taken in a public location in the UK of a building on permanent public display, and exempt from copyright under Section 62 of the Copyright... The Broadwater Farm riot was a riot that occurred in and around the Broadwater Farm area of Tottenham London on 6 October 1985. ... The London Borough of Haringey is a London borough in North London, England, and forms part of Outer London. ... A housing estate is a medium-to-low density residential area, usually part of a suburb of a town or city in a developed country. ... The Conservative Party (officially the Conservative and Unionist Party) is the second largest political party in the United Kingdom in terms of sitting Members of Parliament (MPs), the largest in terms of public membership, and is the second oldest extant political party in the world. ... The Labour Party has been, since its founding in the early 20th century, the principal political party of the left in England, Scotland and Wales. ...

The problem associated with tower blocks were brought into sharp focus after the partial collapse of Ronan Point, a tower block in Newham, east London, as a consequence of a gas explosion, on 16 May 1968. Ronan Point after the gas explosion. ... Newham Town Hall in East Ham (E6) Logo on the roadside at sunset The London Borough of Newham is a London borough in East London, within Greater London. ... This article is about the capital of England and the United Kingdom. ... May 16 is the 136th day of the year (137th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1968 (MCMLXVIII) was a leap year starting on Monday (link will display full calendar) of the 1968 Gregorian calendar. ...

Examples

Becontree in Dagenham is the largest area of council housing in the country. There is only a small part of Dagenham that is not Becontree, and some do not consider Becontree to be an estate but really just the bulk of a town. Otherwise, the largest estates are Wythenshawe in the south of Manchester and Bransholme in the north-east of Hull. Arron Way in Corby was a large estate, although the majority of the housing became derelict and the area is now undergoing regeneration. Image File history File links SeaG2. ... Image File history File links SeaG2. ... View from Seacroft Village Green of the Cricketers Arms and the Queensview Flats with the shopping centre to the right. ... Leeds is a major city in West Yorkshire, England. ... Becontree is a place in the London Borough of Barking and Dagenham in East London, 11. ... Wythenshawe is a district in the south of the City of Manchester, in North West England. ... Bransholme is a council estate on the eastern side of Kingston upon Hull. ... Shown within Northamptonshire Geography Status: Borough Region: East Midlands Admin. ...

Other large estates include Castle Vale in Birmingham, Seacroft in Leeds, Blacon in Chester , Parson Cross in Sheffield, Pennywell in Sunderland, Byker in Newcastle-Upon-Tyne, Speke in Liverpool, Langley in Middleton, Greater Manchester, Downham in south London, Leigh Park in Havant, Bettws in Newport, Marsh Farm in Luton, and Ely in Cardiff. All of the new towns built after the war were originally made up of council housing. The Yorkshire village of Grimethorpe was almost entirely council housing. Chickenley, a large estate in Dewsbury, is known for having been built without a church to serve its residents. The Red Road Flats in Glasgow, in the north of the city, were for many years the highest residential buildings in Europe. They are now subject to plans for demolition. Castle Vale is an area of the City of Birmingham, in England, originally created as an overspill housing estate in the 1960s. ... Birmingham (pron. ... View from Seacroft Village Green of the Cricketers Arms and the Queensview Flats with the shopping centre to the right. ... Leeds is a major city in West Yorkshire, England. ... Blacon is a large ex-council owned housing estate near Chester, North West England, containing a mixture of private homes and substantial public council-built properties. ... For the larger local government district, see Chester City (district). ... Pennywell is a suburb in the north-west of the City of Sunderland. ... The Wearmouth Bridge Sunderland (pronounced: , or ) is a city in North East England which was formerly a county borough, and is now part of the City of Sunderland in Tyne and Wear. ... Byker is an inner city electoral ward in the city of Newcastle upon Tyne in Tyne and Wear, England. ... Newcastle upon Tyne (usually shortened to Newcastle) is a large city in Tyne and Wear, England. ... Speke is a district of Liverpool, England. ... Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England, along the eastern side of the Mersey Estuary. ... {infobox England place| |Latitude= 53. ... Downham Market, also known simply as Downham, is a town in Norfolk, England, with a population of around 7,500 people. ... leigh park is great u mother fuckers!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Leigh Park is a large suburb (population 27,500) of Havant, in Hampshire, England. ... Havant is a town and district in Hampshire on the South coast of England, between Portsmouth and Chichester. ... Bettws (Welsh: ) is an electoral district (ward) and coterminous community (parish) of the city of Newport. ... Newport (Welsh: ) is the third-largest city within Wales (after Cardiff and Swansea), in the United Kingdom. ... Marsh Farm is a large housing estate in Luton, Bedfordshire near to Leagrave and Limbury, mainly of council and social housing. ... For other uses, see Luton (disambiguation). ... Ely electoral ward of Cardiff Ely (Welsh Trelai tref town + Elai River Ely) is a suburb primarily dominated by council housing in western Cardiff, Wales. ... Cardiff (English: , Welsh: ) is the capital, largest and core city of Wales. ... Grimethorpe is a large village which is part of the metropolitan borough of Barnsley in South Yorkshire, England. ... Chickenley is a large council estate in the east of Dewsbury, West Yorkshire. ... Dewsbury is a town in the county of West Yorkshire, England, to the west of Wakefield, in the borough of Kirklees. ... The Red Road flat complex lies in the districts of Balornock and Barmulloch in the Springburn area of the city of Glasgow, Scotland. ... â€œGlaswegianâ€ redirects here. ...

Design

Council housing was generally typified by houses with generously sized rooms (compared to the bottom end of the private sector), particularly those built in the 1970s after the Parker Morris standards were introduced. However they also tended to be unimaginatively designed, and rigid council rules often forbade tenants "personalising" their houses. Council tenants also faced problems of mobility, finding it hard to move from one property to another as their families grew or shrank, or to seek work. Despite the building there was a constant demand for housing, and 'waiting lists' are maintained with preference being given to those in greatest need. The Parker Morris Committee drew up the influential 1961 report on public housing in the United Kingdom entitled Homes for today and tomorrow. ...

Criticisms

Social policy economists, such as Culyer and Barr, have been critical of the role that council housing plays in attempts to help the poor. One large criticism is that it hurts labour mobility with its system of allocating housing to those in the local area. Working-class people thus face a disincentive for moving across district lines, when they would be further down the waiting list for council housing in the new districts. When Britain witnessed mass immigration after the Second World War, new immigrants could not initially live in council houses and this led to racial segregation in housing. This has changed over time; most large cities have council estates with large Asian and Black communities. The division remains most marked in Dewsbury and Bradford, which both have large Asian communities that remain concentrated outside the council estates. Dewsbury is a town in the county of West Yorkshire, England, to the west of Wakefield, in the borough of Kirklees. ... The larger City of Bradford Metropolitan District includes other settlements in the surrounding area. ...

Another criticism is that the system favours those who already secured tenancy, even after they are no longer in positions of dire need. The subsidised rent encourages overconsumption by council tenants of housing space. Meanwhile, those who are on the waiting list are often in much greater need of this welfare, yet they cannot have it; once a council house has been granted to a tenant, they cannot be evicted except for anti-social behaviour or serious breach of the tenancy conditions, such as rent arrears.

Council housing has been linked more recently with chavs and chav culture; this is based on the view that such individuals would rather live off the state than work. See also the welfare trap.^{[citation needed]} This article needs cleanup. ... The welfare trap is a name for a situation in which taxation and welfare systems create strong incentives for people to stay on social welfare payments. ...

Decline

Council housing declined sharply in the Thatcher era, as the Conservative government encouraged aspiration toward home ownership^{[citation needed]}. Image File history File links Circle-question. ... Image File history File linksMetadata Download high-resolution version (480x640, 99 KB) http://www. ... Image File history File linksMetadata Download high-resolution version (480x640, 99 KB) http://www. ... Statistics Population: 8,000 (est. ... For other uses, see Luton (disambiguation). ... Margaret Hilda Thatcher, Baroness Thatcher, LG, OM, PC (born October 13, 1925), former Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, in office from 1979 to 1990. ... The Conservative Party (officially the Conservative and Unionist Party) is the second largest political party in the United Kingdom in terms of sitting Members of Parliament (MPs), the largest in terms of public membership, and is the second oldest extant political party in the world. ...

Rules restricted councils' investment in housing, preventing them subsidising it from local taxes, but more important, council tenants were given the "right to buy" their council houses on very attractive financial terms. The Right to Buy Scheme allowed tenants to buy their home with a discount of up to 60% of the market price for houses and 70% for flats, depending on the time they had lived there. Councils were prevented from reinvesting the proceeds of these sales in new housing, and the total available stock, particularly of more desirable homes, declined. The Right to buy scheme is a policy in the United Kingdom which gives tenants of council housing the right to buy the home they are living in. ...

The "right-to-buy" was popular with many former Labour voters and, although the Labour government of Tony Blair has tightened the rules (reducing the maximum discount in areas of most housing need), it shows no sign of abandoning right-to-buy. Labour did relax the policy forbidding reinvestment of sales proceeds^{[citation needed]}. The Labour Party is a centre-left or social democratic political party in Britain (see British politics), and one of the United Kingdoms three main political parties. ... For other people of the same name, see Tony Blair (disambiguation) Anthony Charles Lynton Blair (born May 6, 1953)[1] is the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, First Lord of the Treasury, Minister for the Civil Service, Leader of the Labour Party, and Member of Parliament for the constituency...

Some councils have now transferred their housing stock to not-for-profit housing associations, who are now also the providers of most new public sector housing. Elsewhere, referenda on changing ownership, in Birmingham for example, have failed. Elections Part of the Politics series Politics Portal This box: A referendum (plural: referendums or referenda) or plebiscite (from Latin plebiscita, originally a decree of the Concilium Plebis) is a direct vote in which an entire electorate is asked to either accept or reject a particular proposal. ...

The current position is that council housing is a more and more marginalised and stigmatised sector, with the term 'council' increasingly used as a pejorative. Whereas in its early years, council housing was an acceptable option for much of the population, it is now increasingly an option only for those reliant on social security. Social security primarily refers to a field of social welfare service concerned with social protection, or protection against socially recognized conditions, including poverty, old age, disability, unemployment, families with children and others. ...

In some parts of the country, especially northern Britain, some council housing is virtually unlettable. Council housing stock has sometimes been used to house those seeking refugee status ('asylum seekers'), who have no choice in their accommodation. In the south and in London in particular, demand still massively outstrips supply.

The Wakefield district council found itself unable to maintain its supply of council housing and transferred it all to a housing association, in 2004; this represented the second largest stock transfer in British history. Housing rented from the council accounted for about 28% of the district and around 40% of the actual city of Wakefield. Wakefield The Town Hall, Wood St. ...

Other than Wakefield, districts that maintain large amounts of council housing include most inner London boroughs with Southwark, Hackney, Islington and Lambeth having the highest proportions/amounts. Also, Barnsley, Corby, Easington^{[disambiguation needed]}, Hull, Leeds, Manchester, Nottingham and Sheffield. Many districts of the country have less than 10% of housing rented from the council; the national average stands at 14%. Inner London is the name for the group of London boroughs which form the central part of Greater London and are surrounded by Outer London. ... The Borough or Southwark is an area of the London Borough of Southwark situated 1. ... The London Borough of Hackney is a London Borough in the east end of London and part of inner London. ... Islington is an inner-city district in north London. ... Lambeth is a place in the London Borough of Lambeth. ... Barnsley is a large town in South Yorkshire, England, lying on the River Dearne, approximately twenty kilometres north of Sheffield. ... Shown within Northamptonshire Geography Status: Borough Region: East Midlands Admin. ... Easington is the name of several places in England: Easington, Buckinghamshire Easington, County Durham Easington (district), County Durham Easington, Oxfordshire Easington, East Riding of Yorkshire Easington, North Riding of Yorkshire Easington, West Riding of Yorkshire Easington Colliery, County Durham Easington Lane, County Durham This is a disambiguation page — a... Hull or Kingston upon Hull is a British city situated on the north bank of the Humber estuary. ... Leeds is a major city in West Yorkshire, England. ... Manchester (pronounced ) is a city and metropolitan borough of Greater Manchester, England. ... Nottingham is a city (and county town of Nottinghamshire) in the East Midlands of England. ... Sheffield is a city and metropolitan borough in South Yorkshire, England. ...

Law

The legal status and management of council houses, and the social housing sector, has been subject to lobbying and change in recent years. Local Authorities now have new legal powers to enable them to deal with anti-social behaviour and the misuse of council houses by organised gangs. An example is when a gang turns a council house into a crack house. Anti-social behaviour orders (ASBOs) were created by the Crime and Disorder Act 1998, ASBOs were created by amendments to the Housing Act 1996, enacted by the Anti-social Behaviour Act 2003. The proposed Housing Act 2006 will radically alter the way that all social housing is managed. Tony Blair has launched the Respect agenda, aimed at instilling core values in the tenants of council houses. Recently bodies such as the Social Housing Law Association - [1] have been formed to discuss the impact of legislation in the social housing sector and to provide training and lobbying facilities for those who work in that area. Local governments are administrative offices of an area smaller than a state. ... // In the United Kingdom and the Republic of Ireland[1] an Anti-Social Behaviour Order, acronym ASBO, pronounced // (az-bo), is a civil order made against a person who has been shown to have engaged in anti-social behaviour. ... The Crime and Disorder Act 1998 is a United Kingdom Act of Parliament. ... The Anti-Social Behaviour Act is a law in the United Kingdom. ... The Respect agenda was launched in September 2005 by Tony Blair, who described it as being about â€˜putting the law abiding majority back in charge of their communitiesâ€™. It aims to help central government, local agencies, local communities and citizens work together to build a society in which we can...

Media

This article or section does not adequately cite its references or sources. ... A tower block, block of flats, or apartment block, is a multi-unit high-rise apartment building. ... Ronan Point after the gas explosion. ... Paul Weller (born John Weller 25 May 1958, Sheerwater, near Woking, Surrey) is an English singer-songwriter. ... The Gift was the final studio album by The Jam. ... Only Fools and Horses is a British television sitcom, created and written by John Sullivan, and made and broadcast by the BBC. Seven series were originally broadcast in the UK between 1981 and 1991, with sporadic Christmas specials until 2003. ... EastEnders is a popular BBC television soap opera, first broadcast in the United Kingdom on BBC1 on 19 February 1985[4] and continuing to date. ... Rita, Sue and Bob Too is a British film directed by Alan Clarke about two Yorkshire schoolgirls who have a sexual fling with a married man. ... Comedy has a classical meaning (comical theatre) and a popular one (the use of humour with an intent to provoke[[ laughter in general). ... A television program is the content of television broadcasting. ... Keeping Up Appearances is a British sitcom starring Patricia Routledge as social snob Hyacinth Bucket. ... The Precinct in Coventry city centre. ... Shameless is an offbeat British comedy drama television series set in the fictional Chatsworth Estate in Manchester, England. ... Manchester (pronounced ) is a city and metropolitan borough of Greater Manchester, England. ... Doctor Who is a long-running award-winning British science fiction television programme (and a 1996 television film) produced by the BBC. The series shows the adventures of a mysterious time-traveller known as the Doctor, who explores time and space in his TARDIS (Time And Relative Dimension In Space... Rose Tyler is a fictional character played by Billie Piper in the long-running British science fiction television series Doctor Who. ... This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ... Black And White Town is the lead single on Doves third album, Some Cities. ...

Contents

Origins

Heyday

Examples

Design

Criticisms

Decline

Law

Media

See also

External links

References

Contents

Origins GA_googleFillSlot("encyclopedia_square");

Heyday

Examples

Design

Criticisms

Decline

Law

Media

See also

External links

References

Origins