Table Of ContentBL LABOUR IN
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A Study in Municipal
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Achievement
L
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N Brian Barker
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ROUTLEDGE LIBRARY
EDITIONS:
THE LABOUR MOVEMENT
ROUTLEDGE LIBRARY EDITIONS:
THE LABOUR MOVEMENT
Volume 1
LABOUR IN LONDON
LABOUR IN LONDON
A Study in Municipal Achievement
BRIAN BARKER
Firstpublishedin1946byGeorgeRoutledge&Sons.Ltd.
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LABOUR
IN LONDON
A STUDY IN MUNICIPAL ACHIEVEMENT
By
BRIAN BARKER
With a Foreword by
LORD LATHAM
LONDON
GEORGE ROUTLEDGE & SONS, LTD.
BROADWAY HOUSE: 68-74 CARTER LANE, E. C.
First published 1946
There is now a general recognition that the town or city is
not a remote abstraction with which the citizens have no
personal concern, but an important factor in their associated
lives, and that upon the wise direction of its common affairs
the happiness and prosperity of the inhabitants in great part
depend.
Lord Snell,
Chairman of the London County Council.
1934-1938.
THIS BOOK IS PRODUCED IN
COMPLETE CONFORMITY WITH THE
ECONOMY STANDARDS
Printed in Great Britain by Butler & Tanner Ltd., Frome and London
C O N T E N T S
CHAP. PAGE
Foreword by Lord Latham. . . . vi
I “ Vested Interests in Dirt and Disease ” 1
II The Struggle for M unicipal Reforms 28
III The Rise of the London Labour Party ■ 53
IV The Government of London . 68
V Clearing Away the Slums. . . . . 83
VI A Great Experiment in Social Welfare 112
VII A Municipal Health Service ■ 134
VIII Progress in Education • 152
IX Peace and Progress. . . . . . 163
X London goes to W ar. . 181
XI Rest Centres and Emergency Feeding • 195
XII Education in Wartime. . . . . 203
XIII Social Welfare in W artime . 210
XIV War over the Hospitals. . . . . 2l8
XV The Labour Boroughs of London 227
V
FOREWORD
By Lord Latham, Leader of the London County Council.
M r. Brian Barker has written a clear and concise
account of the march of Labour to the control of the
London County Council and of its work at County Hall.
It is a story of clarity and firmness of purpose: of sus
tained and planned progress to victory, and then of solid
and sound achievement in the administration of the
greatest municipal authority in the world. In peace and
in war the Labour Majority on the County Council has
shown itself capable of the efficient and progressive
government of London. The written proof is to be found
in the impressive record set out in the pages of this useful
and factual study. The actual proof can be seen wherever
the vast and complex activities of the L. C. C. take place,
both within the County and outside. Yet the living
testimony resides in the knowledge and appreciation of
the great people of London that Labour kept its promises
to them in the short years of peace and sustained, helped
and comforted them in the dark and dangerous years
of war.
It is not my purpose in this foreword to go over the
ground covered by the Author, but rather to set out in
broad outline some of the developments we shall seek to
carry out in the future. The speed and the measure of
our progress in these will depend to an appreciable extent
upon factors which are outside our control: such as the
availability of labour and materials; adequate powers
and reasonable financial assistance from central funds.
Nevertheless, the Labour Majority at County Hall will
not rely upon these factors as excuses for inaction, but
will press on with every energy and resource at its com-
vi
Foreword vii
mand. Nor will it depart from its established practice
and tradition of not making promises it cannot fulfil.
The London County Council faces the immense task
of repairing the widespread damage done to its houses,
flats, schools, hospitals and many other public buildings,
and the replacement of those destroyed. In addition,
the removal of blast-walls and other protective work and
the re-adaptation of buildings which have been used for
civil defence purposes will be a big job. Furthermore,
there are six years of accumulated arrears of maintenance
to be tackled as speedily as possible, in order to restore
the amenities of schools, hospitals and the like. All this
work of repair, restoration and replacement will compete
for labour and materials which are and will be for some
time in short supply: they will compete not only between
themselves, but with the need for construction of new
houses, flats, new schools and new hospitals. In the field
of new construction, housing must come first, but hard
on its heels will be the need for new schools, not only to
replace those destroyed, but also those which are outworn
and out of date and, moreover, to provide school accom
modation in those areas where, owing to the shift of
population, it is insufficient. The number of additional
school places required will be increased by the higher
standard of amenity and the smaller classes essential if
improved educational facilities are to be available for our
children.
Against this background of competing urgencies, what
developments has the Labour Majority in mind for the
future? First, it has resolved that reconstruction must
be according to the ordered principles of sound, long-term
planning. The Council has therefore adopted the main
principles of the County of London Plan and will, as
regards its own building, seek to conform with them: it
will also endeavour to guide and direct private develop-
