People with memories of Westbury’s earliest council housing are being invited to share their knowledge as part of plans to mark the centenary of social housing.
It is 100 years since parliament passed the Housing Act which promised government subsidies to help finance the construction of affordable housing. It was triggered by the end of the First World War, returning soldiers, and the call for Homes for Heroes coined by Lloyd George. The act gave local authorities the task of developing new housing and rented accommodation where it was needed for working people.
Houses in Haynes Road and the Crescent were some of the earliest to be built between the wars. Disused wartime huts doubled up as temporary housing for families at Penleigh Grove until Oldfield Park was developed in the 1950s. Other developments including Phoenix Rise followed later.
Now housing associations, residents, Westbury Town Council and Westbury Heritage Society are planning an exhibition to celebrate the 100-year anniversary and want to hear from anyone who has memories of the early days of council housing in the town.
If you can help, please pop into the heritage centre in the High Street or the Laverton and leave your name and contact details so they can contact you.
Westbury seems to have been ahead of the game – long before the 1919 act, the town already had a form of social housing. In 1869 millowner Abraham Laverton built Prospect Square and in 1890 Mary Brown, daughter of Westbury vicar Stafford Brown, funded 10 cottages at Ivy Court off the Warminster Road. These were known as the Stafford Brown alms houses and were for poor parishioners who were members of the Church of England.
