CRAWLEY NEW TOWN
CRAWLEY (fn. 1) was one of the six original new towns
designated under the New Towns Act, 1946, as part
of the planning of the London region after the
Second World War. The Dalton committee agreed
to select Crawley in May 1946, before the Act was
passed, to avoid the need for a new housing estate at
Chessington (Surr.). (fn. 2) Also in 1946 Dr. Thomas
Sharp was appointed to make a survey and prepare
an outline plan. (fn. 3) An area of 5,920 a. was formally
designated the following January under the Crawley
New Town (Designation) Order, 1947. (fn. 4)
The area was divided among the three administrative counties of East and West Sussex and Surrey,
the three corresponding rural districts of Cuckfield,
Horsham, and Dorking and Horley, and the five
civil parishes of Slaugham, Worth, Crawley (including Ifield), Lower Beeding, and Charlwood (Surr.).
An order of 1953 transferred 3,347 a. of Slaugham
and Worth in Cuckfield rural district to West Sussex
and to Crawley parish. In 1956 the parish, then the
most populous mere civil parish in England, became
an urban district; at the same time 136 a. were transferred to Lower Beeding and 2,114 a. to Rusper.
The urban district thus covered 5,614 a.; it excluded
the East Sussex and Surrey parts of the new town. (fn. 5)
The urban district became a borough in 1974, when
the remaining parts of the new town area in Worth
and Slaugham and Gatwick airport in Surrey were
included in it. (fn. 6) In 1983 boundary changes included
in the borough Hyde Drive (formerly in Rusper) and
part of Bewbush (formerly in Lower Beeding) on the
west, and the Wakehams Green area (formerly in
Worth) on the east, a total area of 1,800 a. The
borough thereby covered 10,767 a. (fn. 7)
The designation order of 1947 was challenged in
the courts and was not finally confirmed until
December 1947, delaying the start of development.
A development corporation was appointed in
February 1947 with Sir Thomas Bennett, a London
architect, as chairman. (fn. 8) Bennett quarrelled with
Sharp over his draft master plan; Sharp resigned,
and Anthony Minoprio was appointed planning consultant. (fn. 9) His draft plan was published in December
1947 at a meeting in Crawley of local authority
representatives and others. (fn. 10) The master plan was
finished in 1949 (fn. 11) and approved by the government
in 1950. (fn. 12) Meanwhile the corporation began work on
main services, (fn. 13) and commissioned detailed surveys
to reveal the character of the area and the age and
structure of its population. (fn. 14)
The development corporation continued to be
responsible for the planning and most of the building of the new town. It proceeded rapidly with its
tasks, in great measure owing to the enthusiasm and
energy of Bennett, who left his stamp on the town (fn. 15)
and by paying close attention to public relations
could the more easily resolve disputes with the inhabitants and local authorities. (fn. 16) He was ably assisted
by Col. C. A. C. Turner, the corporation's chief
executive 1947-59. (fn. 17) When Bennett resigned in 1960
the corporation had already met most of the growth
targets originally expected to take 15 years. (fn. 18) It was
therefore dissolved in 1962, its property and some
of its powers passing to the Commission for the New
Towns established under the New Towns Act,
1959, (fn. 19) instead of to the local authority as originally
intended in the 1940s. (fn. 20) The commission lacked the
planning and purchasing powers of development
corporations (fn. 21) and proved less able to moderate the
effects of changes in government policy, which were
marked on housing, (fn. 22) social amenities, (fn. 23) and, as a
result of the growth of Gatwick airport, on the town's
economy. (fn. 24) Successive governments gradually reduced the commission's powers, particularly over
housing. (fn. 25) From 1978 it was responsible only for
two shopping centres and for industrial sites, and all
those assets were being sold off to private interests in
the 1980s. (fn. 26)
Crawley Development Corporation.
Or, on a fesse gules between three crows sable, three chevronels interlaced argent, all within a bordure azure charged with sixteen martles or. [Granted 1951]
The new town was originally intended to accommodate 40,000 people. (fn. 27) The master plan allowed for
expansion up to 50,000, (fn. 28) and in 1950 the minister
of town and country planning urged that the target
should be 60,000; that was successfully resisted by
the development corporation. (fn. 29) In 1956 a limit of
55,000 was regarded as appropriate. (fn. 30) Draft plans of
1961 expected further growth to 70,000 by 1980. (fn. 31)
By 1969 it was recognized that such a limit would
require 'a virtual ban on the free movement of people
to Crawley', and the possibility of growth up to
120,000 was considered. (fn. 32) The population in 1951 of
the area later included in Crawley urban district was
10,481. In 1961 it was 53,768, the increase being
more than half that of all West Sussex, and in 1971
it was 67,608. The population of the designated area
was 54,047 in 1961, 67,843 in 1971, and 72,684 in
1981. The borough in 1981 had 73,376 people; a
further 7,874 were normally resident in the new
neighbourhoods then outside the borough but included in it in 1983. (fn. 33)
Elizabeth II visited the new town as duchess of
Edinburgh in 1950 (fn. 34) and as queen in 1958 and
1969. (fn. 35) The town also attracted many official parties
of visitors from all over the world: in 1958 there
were 2,001 visitors from 48 countries, (fn. 36) in 1961 over
3,400 in 289 groups from 67 countries, (fn. 37) and in 1963
over 3,000 in 240 groups from 85 countries. (fn. 38)