4 - The Park Movement

Summary

In the years following the Second Report on the State of Large Towns and Populous Districts, the park movement in Britain was affected by local, national and international developments. Parks in turn had a part to play in urban and suburban development, but it was only in the last decades of the 19th century that the problems of town planning and of park location were confronted. The legislation governing the actions permitted to local authorities provided the framework within which they could develop parks. The weak state of local government persisted for much of the century and it was not until 1875 that local authorities gained full powers to develop and manage parks. Of the 187 incorporated towns in 1845, only 29 town councils had exclusive powers to act on matters of drainage, cleansing and paving. In 62 towns neither the councils nor the commissioners exercised such powers; consequently these towns were left without the means for improving their sanitation, streets or water. A further weakness came from the problem that as towns expanded, local government areas did not keep pace with them. Consequently, many growing urban districts did not come within any corporation, and their administration fell to parish authorities and county justices with their even weaker powers. It was only gradually that the full machinery of local government came into being, and with it came an increasing sense of civic consciousness that showed itself in magnificent town halls, libraries, concert halls and parks. It is against this difficult background that the park movement must be placed.

One of the first actions of Parliament in the early years of the park movement was to pass the General Enclosure Act 1845. Ostensibly, this was intended to safeguard open space near towns, for if commons were within certain distances of large towns, a proportion of the enclosed land had to be set aside for recreation (see Appendix 1). The effects of the Act, however, proved more detrimental than the previous practice of enclosure under private Acts, and less land, proportionally, was set aside for recreation. Another important piece of legislation passed in this period was the Towns Improvement Clauses Act 1847, which consolidated within one Act provisions usually contained in local Acts for town improvements.