Page 8 - HGS Suburb News 135 - Summer 2018

The first Garden City

parts of our own city and the Then there are concerns over available are used to the benefit Graham Fisher gave his
rest of the country. increasing inequality and an of the community. lecture the sub-title: Sustainability
The town, with its industry increasingly elderly population, To that end money is spent and Community. It is a miracle
and housing kept separate, while there is less participation on promoting the environment, Letchworth has survived and it
would be situated within a belt in civic community life – a heritage, culture, leisure, learning, is a fine advertisement for the
of open countryside – the first common problem as our own health and wellbeing, leading to ideals of a civic movement,
PETER McCLUSKIE
‘Green Belt’. The competition RA knows – and a struggle to the support of a working farm, which some mourn for having
for the town design led to the maintain economic vitality. The the town cinema and theatre, a disappeared in an age which
appointment of Richard Barry decline in the High Street is health centre, the Greenway prizes the self and mammon
Parker and Raymond Unwin as being met, in part, by converting around the town, community above community and charity.
the architects. The original Arts to residential. transport and much more. TERRY BROOKS
and Crafts housing design and The term ‘hollowing out’ was
border hedges would look used to describe the effect of
familiar to Suburb residents. being squeezed between London
The original town has also and Cambridge on the town’s GEORGINA MALCOLM
seen expansion with housing economic vitality. Trying to attract
estates being built; two, in 1947 wealth creators into the town has
and 1961, being municipal estates become a priority so as not to rely
built by the LCC with residents on a proliferation of ubiquitous
coming from London; and two low-wage distribution centres.
more in the 1970’s, although We learned that the
these were for private housing. Foundation has thirty governors.
The annual Michael Rowley The speaker explained that
lecture this year was given on this utopian solution to the Graham Fisher told us that 35% Six are elected, ten are nominated
by registered clubs, societies and
of the residential property was
May 20 in the Meeting House on urban living condition gives for social housing while 40% of the local county and district
the subject of Letchworth Garden rise to some tensions surfacing
City by Graham Fisher, the Chief from the policing of standards residents work in Letchworth. councils, and fourteen are
Executive of the Letchworth with problems arising with, for Much of the Foundation’s property appointed by the Board of
is commercial, either industrial, Trustees, which has a member-
Garden City Heritage Foundation. example, PVC windows or the office or retail with these sectors ship of nine and is appointed
The talk started with a brief siting of satellite dishes;
overview explaining some of problems familiar to Suburb contributing 80% of its income. by the governors. Trustees can GEORGINA MALCOLM
We were told Letchworth faces
the history of Letchworth, its Residents, with negative views the same challenges present in serve for a maximum of two
terms of three years.
constitution and governance. It sometimes expressed over the rest of the country. There is The management of the
covers some 5,500 acres with a disciplinary action.
population of around 34,000 and Letchworth was founded in much old property which needs estate is the responsibility of a
as the first garden city it influenced 1903 using ideas from the 1898 looking after and a programme leadership team under the chief
of retrofitting has started to make
executive, Graham Fisher, and
future town planning greatly. book Tomorrow: A Peaceful Path its housing stock eco-friendly. they ensure the resources
Graham Fisher explained that to Real Reform (republished as
the present body is a charitable Garden Cities of Tomorrow) by the
trust with its endowment being social reformer Ebenezer Howard.
the estate itself. The Foundation It was part of the great social GEORGINA MALCOLM
is Letchworth’s largest landlord movement of the late 19th and
and has an annual income of early 20th centuries.
some £8 million. So it is very It remains as the only one of
different from the HGS Trust what was hoped to be a network
which we know. of Garden Cities, all created GEORGINA MALCOLM
Its mission statement says it with the communal ownership
exists “to create, maintain and of land, and accountable to that
promote a vibrant, quality community, investing its profit
environment in Letchworth for its own benefit. It was seen
Garden City, for all those who as an answer to the problems of
live, work and visit the world’s poor housing, overcrowding and
first Garden City.” We were told high rents associated with much
it acts as a custodian with urban development at the time. It
stewardship to ensure the is remarkable that it has survived
maintenance of the residential, and thrived; it is unfortunate
industrial, commercial and that over one hundred years later
rural environment. the same problems still bedevil

8 SUBURB NEWS IS PRODUCED AND DELIVERED TO YOU BY RESIDENTS ASSOCIATION VOLUNTEERS