Social Balance’ and New Town Organisations

The legislative foundation for the building of new towns in Britain was laid in October 1945, when the New Towns Committee was appointed under the chairmanship of Lord Reith. Its terms of reference were: ‘To consider the general questions of the establishment, development, organisation and administration that will arise in the promotion of New Towns ... and to suggest guiding principles on which such towns should be established and developed as self-contained and balanced communities for work and living.’ Some of the most important intentions in the creation of the new towns are expressed in the goal that they should be self-contained and balanced communities for work and living. The idea of self-containment was seen as being fairly straightforward. The new towns would not simply contain residential areas, but were to be designed to encompass, as Thomas put it, within their boundaries, ‘all of the requirements for day-to-day living.’ As part of those requirements, the Reith committee counted social organisations through which it would be possible for a newcomer to ‘put down roots in his community

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• New Communities

  Arthur Hillman•Sociological Focus•1975

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