The Woodchurch Controversy, 1944
The Woodchurch Controversy, 1944 Lilian Potter During the late 1930s rapid changes were taking place in the social structure of the country, and expectations of standards in housing and health care had risen dramatically since the publication of the Tudor Walters Report in 1918. The Second World War accelerated the changes. Although improved standards of living were widely expected, both in standards of housing and in a more pleasant environment, the general public seemed to appreciate that Utopia would not emerge immediately the hostilities ceased. There was a recognition, rather, that public intervention might avoid a repetition of past mistakes, and thus an expectation that the public would have some input into decision-making about housing.1 In that, the public mood was unlike that of its counterpart after the signing of the Armistice in 1918, when euphoria overwhelmed socio-economic reality and precipitated state provision of housing for the working class.2 During the early 1940s public interest in rebuilding Britain, or rather in planning for rebuilding Britain, was officially encouraged at all levels by exhibitions and numerous publications. As well as Town planning by Thomas Sharp, the first manager of Letchworth Garden City and a past president of the Town Planning Institute, there were pamphlets and booklets issued by political parties and other interested institutions, including the Co-operative Building Society.3 Popular magazines and periodicals also spurred on a growing public 1 L. Potter, 'National tensions in the post-war planning of local authority housing and the “ Woodchurch controversy” ’ (unpub. Ph.D. thesis, Liverpool Univ., 1998), pp.
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