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Kate KennallyHow Cornwall is taking inspiration from Christopher Addison
As we approach the 100th anniversary of the legislation that opened the door to the large-scale delivery of council housing, Cornwall Council is one of many keeping the legacy alive, writes Kate Kennally
Inside Housing is publishing a number of articles this month to mark the 100th anniversary of the Addison Act – which paved the way for large-scale council housebuilding.
This year is the centenary of the first national council housebuilding programme. The Addison Act, named after the then-minister for health and housing Lord Christopher Addison, aspired to create 500,000 new homes for working families or – as they were often termed given their timing in history – “homes fit for heroes”.
Only ever designed to be a temporary intervention while the market stabilised, this and subsequent inter-war housing acts ended up producing more than 1.1 million council homes for families in need.
There is plenty to celebrate about this ground-breaking act: it thrust local housing authorities to the forefront of housing delivery, it made a clear connection between the quality of housing and the health of residents, and it replaced overcrowded slums with high-quality, light, spacious homes.
More importantly, this 100th anniversary provides an opportunity for reflection, to consider whether we need a new ‘21st century Addison approach’, as well as what opportunities we have – particularly as local housing authorities working with partners – to intervene in and shape the market for new homes.
The need for affordable, high-quality homes is as real today as it was 100 years ago, with a recent estimate that 340,000 new homes are needed each year, of which 145,000 should be affordable.
This is the challenge to which councils must rise, as the democratic voice of residents and in their role as community leaders.
In Cornwall, we are investing £200m in a programme to deliver 1,000 homes, with a deliberate focus on market-rented housing.
We are providing well-designed homes built to a high-quality and energy-efficient standard, with the security of five-year tenancies.
“Cornwall Council has taken the view that if the market cannot deliver then we must step in”
Like other councils, we are also taking advantage of the lifting of the Housing Revenue Account borrowing cap with 400 new social rented homes in the pipeline and plans being worked up for many more.
These programmes are on top of our partnerships with housing associations, which we directly grant funding, complementing that from Homes England.
Cornwall Council has taken the view that if the market cannot deliver then we have an imperative to step in. However, supply is only part of the story.
As part of a united ‘Team Cornwall’ approach, the council is uniquely placed to support the most vulnerable residents in our communities, from Gypsies and Travellers to rough sleepers and people with care and support needs.
In Cornwall, despite a 43% reduction in rough sleeping over the past two years, we still have many people sleeping rough. Over the next two years, we want to position ourselves so we can always offer a solution and nobody will need to sleep rough.
This is a challenging aim, but one that will secure benefits for the individual and our wider communities.
Similarly, we are commissioning 800 extra-care homes that better reflect our older population’s aspirations for accommodation. Later this year, we will open our first Gypsy and Traveller transit site.
Furthermore, we have embedded housing services in our approach to health and social care integration, and we are already beginning to see the benefits of this collaboration across these sectors.
“If we cannot get it right for our most vulnerable residents, we are unlikely to get it right for residents more generally”
All of this means taking difficult, sometimes contentious decisions. But if we cannot get it right for our most vulnerable residents, we are unlikely to get it right for residents more generally.
Next month, we are celebrating 100 years of council housing in the company of 100 tenants, who will be attending the official opening of the same number of new Cornwall Council-provided homes!
Looking to the future, I encourage councils to be brave and bold in our collective efforts. At the end of the day, we are in the business of going beyond simply building bricks and mortar. We are creating homes that offer security and stability and allow families to thrive.
There can be no greater incentive to deliver for residents than that.
You can follow our journey to the centenary in our blog.
Kate Kennally, chief executive, Cornwall Council
100 Years of Council Housing: we want to hear from you
To mark the 100th anniversary of the act receiving Royal Assent in July, we have a month of special activities planned, including interviews with senior council housing figures, exclusive debate and comment, and investigations into what local authorities, past and present, are doing to help provide housing.
This will signal the start of a stronger focus on local authority housing issues over the coming months on www.insidehousing.co.uk and in our weekly print and digital editions.
We want to hear from you about your local authority is doing to mark the Addison Act and about the housing issues in your area, email: editorial@insidehousing.co.uk
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100 Years of Council Housing: what Inside Housing is doing
One hundred years ago, a piece of legislation led to the birth of council housing. Gavriel Hollander introduces Inside Housing’s celebration of the centenary of the Addison Act.
It is so ingrained in our national consciousness that it is hard to imagine just how radical the idea of local authority built and funded housing must have seemed a century ago. Before World War I, almost all housing in the UK was built by private developers (albeit with some notable municipal exceptions in major cities). Given this, it is unsurprising that both quality and consistency of delivery were variable.
The post-war introduction of subsidies for councils to solve the blight of slum estates was supposed to right a wrong and – in the words of then-prime minister David Lloyd George – provide “homes fit for heroes”.
The so-called Addison Act – the very first housing act passed in this country, named after its sponsor Dr (later Lord) Christopher Addison – received royal assent exactly 100 years ago this month.
It may never have achieved its aspiration of delivering 500,000 homes (something that may sound familiar to modern-day watchers of government housing policy) but it was the start of a movement.
New estates began to crop up across the country, built in accordance with recommendations from the Tudor Walters Report, which was produced to parliament in November 1918. This built on the ‘Garden City Principles’ and suggested a number of improvements to the standard of public housing. These included limiting the length of terraced-housing blocks, mandating a minimum number of rooms and providing indoor bathrooms.
“The post-war introduction of subsidies for councils to solve the blight of slum estates was supposed to right a wrong and – in the words of the prime minister David Lloyd George – provide ‘homes fit for heroes’”
Although the abandonment of subsidy in 1921 and a change of government the following year curtailed the immediate growth of council-built housing, the seed had been sown.
This month Inside Housing celebrates the centenary of the Addison Act with a month-long series of articles looking at how it transformed the social fabric of the country and created the housing sector we know today.
Over the course of this month, we visit four estates, each symbolising a different era of council housebuilding. We also take a look at whether new-found financial freedom for local authorities could be the catalyst for a new generation of estates.
To kick off the series, acclaimed social historian John Boughton visits one of the first estates made possible by Lord Addison’s historic legislation: Sea Mills in Bristol. We then travel to Stevenage to look at how the damage to Britain’s inner cities during the Blitz led to the new town movement and a fresh wave of estates through the 1950s and 1960s.
Martin Hilditch, editor of Inside Housing, takes a trip to Hulme in Manchester to examine how the private and public sector had to work together in the 1980s to deliver a regeneration project, which is still thriving more than 30 years later.
Finally, we go to Nottingham and look at one council with grand ambitions to provide housing to a new generation of tenants.
There may still be myriad challenges to face when it comes to providing good-quality, genuinely affordable housing for those most in need, but without the passing of an act of parliament 100 years ago, the sector we work in today may never have come to exist. That alone is worth celebrating.
To read more about the act, go to: www.insidehousing.co.uk/AddisonAct
More on the Addison Act
How George Clarke is aiming to end the housing crisis with his new TV show Architect George Clarke has long been a passionate campaigner for more – and better – council housing. As Inside Housing celebrates 100 years of the Addison Act, Martin Hilditch meets a man on a mission
100 Years of Council Housing: your tweets from week three Our favourite #100yearsofcouncilhousing tweets from the past seven days as our Addison Act activity moves into its fourth week
Nottingham's new wave Robyn Wilson goes to Nottingham to see what the next generation of council homes are set to look like.
If we’re going to have another 100 years of council housing, Right to Buy has to go The Right to Buy is having a devastating effect on the availability of council housing in this country and must be scrapped, writes Lee Sugden
What next for council housing? To celebrate the centenary of the Addison Act, Inside Housing asks a group of housing experts what can be learned from its legacy (sponsored)
Thatcher's legacy: a brief history of the Right to Buy An engine for social change or a handbrake on council development? We look at why the Right to Buy is as divisive as ever #ukhousing
A history of council housing: a timeline From the Addison Act to prefabs, slum clearance and the Right to Buy, council housing in the United Kingdom has a long and colourful history. Carl Brown looks at how it has evolved over time
Council housing: the key to a more equitable and dynamic society As the 100th anniversary of the Addison Act approaches, we publish an abridged extract of a book by Chris Matthews chronicling the history of council housing in Nottingham
Addison’s framework was scrapped but its legacy is more important than ever The fortunes of council housing have ebbed and flowed ever since Addison’s programme was abruptly halted in 1921, writes Jules Birch
Hulme: the redevelopment project that changed regeneration The redevelopment of Hulme in Manchester kick-started a new approach to regeneration in the UK – and the careers of some of housing’s best-known figures. Martin Hilditch joins them on a step back in time with lessons for today.
100 Years of Council Housing: your tweets from week two We pick our favourite #100yearsofcouncil housing tweets over the past week
Memories of council housing: the human legacy of the Addison Act As the centenary of the first council houses approaches, Peter Apps hears from some of the people who have lived in them in the decades since
Many of the sector’s current leaders began their journeys in council teams One hundred years of council housing has delivered a generation of sector leaders as well as millions of council homes, writes Mervyn Jones
Stevenage: home of the new town revolution Stevenage was the first of the post-war ‘new towns’. Gavriel Hollander visits the town to see how it has changed.
100 Years of Council Housing: your tweets from week one Inside Housing has been encouraging councils to say what they are doing to build homes and to mark 100 years of council housing. Here we feature a selection of your tweets
Kit Malthouse: 'Council housing is coming back with a vengeance' Housing minister Kit Malthouse tells Martin Hilditch why growing numbers of councils are looking to get back into development
Sea Mills: we visit one of the first estates to benefit from the Addison Act Social historian John Boughton visits a place in Bristol still cherished today
The Housing Podcast: is council housebuilding about to make a comeback Nearly 100 years after the introduction of the Addison Act, which kick-started the building of the first council estates in the UK, the Housing Podcast team examines the state of council housebuilding today
Why the 100th anniversary of the Addison Act should spark a council housing comeback Let’s make 2019 the start of a renaissance of council housing, writes Martin Hilditch
Are new borrowing freedoms sparking a revival of council housebuilding? The Addison Act marked the birth of council housebuilding. A century later, could recent financial freedom spark a renaissance? Nathaniel Barker investigates.
How Cornwall is taking inspiration from Christopher Addison Cornwall Council is one of many keeping the legacy alive, writes Kate Kennally.
The Addison Act - celebrating 100 years of council housing This year marks the 100th anniversary of the Addison Act – which paved the way for council housebuilding on a large scale. Inside Housing has a whole month of special activity planned and we want to hear your stories
The 100-year anniversary of the Addison Act means it’s time to talk about council housing Let’s use the 100th anniversary of council housing as we know it to flag up some of the great work that’s been done – and kick-start a conversation about the future, writes Martin Hilditch
London must recapture the housebuilding ambition of the Addison Act Councils are committed to development but are still facing unfair restrictions, writes Darren Rodwell of London Councils
Marking 100 years since the ‘Addison Act’ Professor Mark Swenarton writes about the Homes Fit for Heroes Centenary Conference
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