Title:
BASILDON DEVELOPMENT CORPORATION
Level: Category
Public records
Level: Fonds
BASILDON DEVELOPMENT CORPORATION
Scope and Content:
The Fonds consists of all the key records of the Basildon Development Corporation, such as minutes and agendas of the Board and core financial records and an extensive selection of files. There are also plans, drawings, photographs, pamphlets and other type of material. They derive both from the Corporation and its successor, the Commission for the New Towns, and cover the entire history of the Basildon New Town from its creation in 1949 up to its dissolution in 1986.

The Fonds is divided in five Sub-Fonds according with the original Departmental organisation. Despite the files and deeds relating to acquisitions can represent almost the half of the boxes of the Fonds, in general terms, the rest of the records transferred to ERO represent all the activities and business developed by each department of the Corporation in a well-balanced proportion.

1. ADMINISTRATIVE DEPARTMENT
1/1 Records of the Board (Catalogued)
1/2 Records of Committees (Catalogued)
1/3 Chief Officer's Committee, General Manager's Conference (Catalogued)
1/4 Liaison Committee (Catalogued)
1/5 Other Meetings (Catalogued)
1/7 Chairman’s Correspondence (Not catalogued)
1/8 General Manager's Correspondence (Almost catalogued)
1/9 NT Annual Reports (Catalogued)
1/11 General Administration (Almost catalogued)
1/12 Personnel and Establishment (Partially catalogued)
1/13 Publicity and Information (Not catalogued)
1/14 New Towns Association (Not catalogued)
1/15 Ministry Approvals (Not catalogued)
1/16 Finance and Grants (Not catalogued)
1/17 Social and Leisure Facilities (Almost catalogued)
1/18 Tenants Welfare and Community Facilities (Not catalogued)
1/19 Handbook, Circulars, etc (Not catalogued)

2. ARCHITECT, PLANNING AND LANDSCAPING DEPARTMENT
2/1 Office Administration/Registry, etc (Not catalogued)
2/2 Planning (Not catalogued)
2/3 General (Not catalogued)
2/4 Internal Works: Nominated Architects (Not catalogued)
2/5 After Contract (Not catalogued)
2/6 External Developers (Not catalogued)
2/7 Landscaping (Not catalogued)
2/8 Budget (Not catalogued)
2/9 Photographs (Not catalogued)
2/10 Architects’ Drawings (New Series) (Not catalogued)

3. ENGINEERING DEPARTMENT
3/1 Filling and Info Systems, Registers, Lists, etc (Not catalogued)
3/2 Plans and Drawings (Not catalogued)
3/4 5 Years Programme 1971/76 (Not catalogued)
3/5 Policy and Practice (Not catalogued)
3/6 New Town Technical Officers Meetings (Not catalogued)
3/7 Master Plans and Revisions (Not catalogued)
3/8 Aerial Photos and Mapping (Not catalogued)
3/12 Southfields Main Drainage (Not catalogued)
3/13 Road 6 Cranes Farm Road (Not catalogued)
3/14 A13 Road Diversion Phase II Construction (Not catalogued)
3/16 Cycle Ways (Not catalogued)
3/18 Roads, Construction and Programme (Not catalogued)
3/21 Fryerns Neighbourhood (Not catalogued)
3/22 Noak Bridge Housing Area 1B (Not catalogued)
3/23 Langdon Hills Housing Area 1 Phase 1 (Not catalogued)
3/24 Laindon Neighbourhood (Not catalogued)
3/25 Felmore Neighbourhood (Not catalogued)
3/31 Industrial Area No. 1: Nevendon and Cranes (Not catalogued)
3/32 Industrial Area No. 2: Pipps Hill (Not catalogued)
3/33 Burnt Mills Industrial Area (Not catalogued)
3/34 Laindon North Service Industrial Area (Not catalogued)
3/35 Southfields Industrial Area (Not catalogued)
3/41 Pitsea Neighbourhood Centre (Not catalogued)
3/42 Town Centre (Not catalogued)

4. ESTATES DEPARTMENT
4/1 Commerce (Not catalogued)
4/3 Co-ordination (Not catalogued)
4/7 Industrial (Not catalogued)
4/9 Management and General (Not catalogued)
4/18 Board Plans (Catalogued)
4/19 Master Plans (Not catalogued)
4/21 Photographs (Not catalogued)
4/22 Transfer of Assets (Catalogued)
4/23 Statistics and Acquisitions List (Not catalogued)
4/25 Terriers and Schedule of BDC Property (Not catalogued)
4/27 Publications, Brochures, etc (Not catalogued)

5. FINANCE DEPARTMENT
5/1 Accounts and Budgets (Not catalogued)
Dates of Creation:
1900 – 2002 (bulk 1948 – 1986). Records from 1986 correspond to files created by Basildon Developmen
Extent:
1055 boxes (partially catalogued), including more
Creator Name:
Basildon Development Corporation, Basildon (1949-1986)
Commission for the New Towns, London, Milton
Admin History:
One of the first acts passed in then Prime Minister Clement Attlee's post-war Labour government was the New Towns Act, 1946. Amongst the many aims of the Act was to create 'overspill' new towns in an effort to alleviate the overcrowding problems in London following the Second World War and the damage inflicted on its already ageing residential developments.

In November of the same year, Stevenage in Hertfordshire became the first of eight designated 'new towns' between 1946 and 1951.

In 1948 the government granted provisional approval for Basildon to follow suit. On January 4th, 1949, Basildon was officially designated a 'new town'. In February 1949 the government appointed Basildon Development Corporation was formed; its task, to transform the designated area into a modern new town. Under the chairmanship of Sir Lancelot Keay, a Master Plan was drawn up for an expected population of 80,000, though this was later revised to 106,000. One of the first undertakings of the Corporation was to conduct a land and property survey of the designated area which was carried out between 1949 and 1950. The survey identified around 8,700 properties, of which a large proportion, 5,600, were below the Housing Act standard. A high proportion were also not connected to the main sewer. Vehicular access was also very poor, with the district having 78 miles of unmade roads.

Having established a headquarters at Gifford House in Bowers Gifford the Corporation were soon able to put out tenders for house building contracts and by 1951 the first new tenants had moved into homes built at Redgrave Road in Vange. By 1953 the 1,000 new house had been completed.

Work on creating an Industrial area at Nevendon had also begun with the first new factory operational as early as 1951. Bonallack coachbuilders were one of the first big names to move to Basildon in 1953 followed soon after by the Ford Motor Company, who opened a purpose-built radiator plant in 1957.

Some parts of the town required extensive drainage to the landscape - most notable at the area that became Gloucester Park - and this was not considered ideally suitable for a large-scale development. Much of the excavated spoil; consisting mainly of London Clay, was used to create artificial hills at various sites around the town, including Gloucester Park and the site of the first Pitsea refuse tip.

By the early 1960s the new town comprised ten neighbourhoods. These being: Pitsea, Laindon, Langdon Hills, Vange, Lee Chapel South and North, Fryerns, Ghyllgrove, Barstable and Kingswood.

The development corporation had, by March 1964, completed nearly 12,000 houses, including some for private occupation, but they were not the only house builder in the new town. Since the second world war the local urban district council had provided 1,432 new homes to March 1964, and by May 1966 total ownership stood at 1,640.

Work in industry and employment opportunities was also continuing apace. Almost 10,000 people were employed in the 60 or so factories built by the early 1960s. Ford consolidated their interest in the town by transferring their Dagenham tractor operation to a new purpose built Tractor Plant on a 100 acre site at Cranes Farm Road in 1964, and in 1967 their Research and Engineering centre at Dunton was opened by the Prime Minister of the day, Harold Wilson. Another major employer, cosmetic giant Yardley, relocated to Basildon in 1966 to further improve the local industry.

Recreational and leisure facilities within the town were also addressed during the decade, with the Mecca run 'Locarno' dance hall opening in 1961, followed by a 26 lane bowling alley at Southernhay in 1962. The residential tower block 'Brooke House', standing at 160 feet and designed by the Corporation's own chief architect Anthony B. Davies, was also completed the same year. A temporary Arts Centre theatre opened in 1967, and in 1968 the town's new championship size swimming pool at Gloucester Park was completed.

Shops around the town had greatly increased, with Lee Chapel North and South now both having their own neighbourhood centre, and as the 1960s drew to a close work on the shopping centre at Laindon was at an advanced stage.

The population census for Basildon in 1961 was 48,047 and within ten years this had reached more than 80,000 of which nearly 38,000 had come from London.

Development continued into the 1970s when in 1971 the town centre cinema was completed, and Basildon Hospital finally opened in 1973 after a long campaign begun back in the 1950s. A year later Basildon Railway station opened; the result of a similar campaign.

The Housing programme had also continued with new developments at Laindon, Langdon Hills, Craylands, Barstable and Chalvedon all being completed during the 1970s. The Basildon Development Corporation were officially wound up in 1986 with new estates at Laindon 8 and 9 Durham Road, Noak Bridge and Felmores being among their last developments. Their successor, the Commission For The New Towns (CNT), became temporary landlords until the eventual - and much delayed - transfer of the housing stock in January 1994.

The CNT was set up under Part II of the New Towns Act 1959 and was launched in October 1961. It was established to manage the property of the New Towns and Urban Development Corporations and Housing Action Trusts transferred to it.

The functions of the Commission were to take over the development of new towns from the development corporations, following the completion of initial stages of development, and then to manage the commercial and industrial assets of the new towns. Land purchased by the corporations was transferred to the commission for this purpose; the Commission acted as landowner on behalf of the nation.

In 1979, the powers of the Commission were extended to include the selling of industrial and commercial premises, and the completion of outstanding contracts entered into by the Development Corporations. These enhanced objectives, and the powers of disposal of the Commission, are defined in the New Towns and Urban Development Act 1985.

In 1999 the CNT joined with the Urban Redevelopment Agency (URA) to form English Partnerships. Its core function was to redevelop urban areas in order to provide affordable housing and sustainable growth. Although CNT and URA trade as English Partnerships, they remained separate legal entities. On 1 December 2008, the powers of English Partnerships passed to a successor body, the new Homes and Communities Agency.

Sources: Cox, William: Basildon New Town Story (http://www.basildon.com/history/basildon/bh1.html); https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/C125
Archivist Note:
Fonds arranged and described by Hector Mir Llorente, project archivist for the project ‘The New Jerusalems’, funded by the Wellcome Trust.
Custodial History:
The Corporation archive was kept in its Basildon premises until its dissolution in 1986. Prior to the Corporation’s wind up, the Essex County Archivist made an extensive selection of those records of permanent preservation and archival value. The first transfer was made in 1983. Regular transfers were made 1987-1997, and 2006-2010 and the last one made in 2019 by the Corporation successor, the Commission for the New Towns, later known as English Partnership. During the 1990’s, the Essex County Archivist, Richard Harris, developed the classification scheme of the archive, based in the original file references created by the Corporation. In 2007-2008, the ERO archivist Ruth Costello catalogued most of the records of the Administration Department (A/TB 1).

In 2022, Hector Mir, project archivist for the project ‘The New Jerusalems’, funded by the Wellcome Trust, arranged and described more than 2000 maps and plans of the following Series:

A/TB 1/1/4 Board Drawings
A/TB 1/11/8 Master Plan
A/TB 1/11/10 Town Centre Development
A/TB 2/10 Architects’ Drawings (New Series, mainly landscape proposals)
A/TB 4/18 Estates Dept. Board Plans
A/TB 4/22 Estates Dept. Transfer of Assets (two large volumes containing plans of managed and transferred property)
Acquisition Source:
Deposited in multiple accessions by the Basildon Development Corporation and the Commission for the New Towns/English Partnership.
Destruction:
All the records transferred to the Essex Record Office have been preserved, only duplicates have been removed.
Accurals:
No further Corporation papers are expected.
System Arrangement:
Trying to preserve as much as possible its original organisation, the fonds has been classified organically, dividing it according to the original Departments and departmental series.

To Series level, the appraisal of all the Basildon records allowed to identify the original reference system used by each department. The existence of some gaps in the sequential order of the Series is due to the fact that not all the original Series were transferred to ERO.

The files in each Series have been arranged, where possible, by their original reference number.
Rules or Conventions:
General International Standard Archival Description (ISAD (G)).
Access:
A 20-year closure period policy was applied. The most modern record will be disclosed in 2022.
Copyright:
Images under specified copyright.
Related Unit of Description:
Other fonds directly related to Basildon Development Corporation can be found at the Essex Record Office:
A10817 - Maps relating to the development of Basildon, including annotated OS sheets and maps produced by Basildon Development Corporation 1963-1969
Dates of Description:
June 2022