London overspill

London overspill is the term given to the communities – largely consisting of publicly provided housing (council houses and new towns) – created as a result of the government policy of moving residents out of Greater London, England into other towns around the South East, East Anglia and beyond.

Policy development

The policy was instigated in the 1930s but started in earnest after the Second World War, as a reaction to the housing shortages caused by enemy bombing and large amounts of substandard housing in the capital. This policy existed until the late 1970s reinforced by a widespread dislike of ribbon development. Started by the London County Council the task was completed by its successor, the Greater London Council. In the 1960s the Location of Offices Bureau dispersed office workers away from the capital. In 1960, the Greater London Plan proposed that over one million Londoners should be relocated from Inner London. The great majority of overspill families were relocated either to expanded towns or to new towns within south east England. As a short term expedient, viewed as regrettable, to meet an urgent need, "quasi-satellites" were created around the edge of Greater London, or close by, at South Oxhey, Debden and Harold Hill.

List of new and expanded towns

In 1973, the following towns were listed, in Hansard, as London overspill:

Town	Economic planning region	Status	Anticipated numbers (1973-1979)
Andover	South East	Expanded town
Ashford	South East	Expanded town
Aylesbury	South East	Expanded town
Banbury	South East	Expanded town
Basildon	South East	New Town	16,000
Basingstoke	South East	Expanded town
Bletchley	South East	Expanded town
Bracknell	South East	New Town	12,000
Braintree	South East	Expanded town
Crawley	South East	New Town	8,000
Farnborough	South East	Expanded town
Harlow	South East	New Town	5,000
Hastings	South East	Expanded town
Hatfield	South East	New Town	1,000
Hemel Hempstead	South East	New Town	4,000
Houghton Regis	South East	Expanded town
Letchworth	South East	Expanded town
Milton Keynes	South East	New Town	69,000
Sandy	South East	Expanded town
Stevenage	South East	New Town	4,000
Welwyn Garden City	South East	New Town	2,000
Witham	South East	Expanded town
Bury St Edmunds	East Anglia	Expanded town
Haverhill	East Anglia	Expanded town
Huntingdon	East Anglia	Expanded town
King's Lynn	East Anglia	Expanded town
Long Melford	East Anglia	Expanded town
Mildenhall	East Anglia	Expanded town
Peterborough	East Anglia	New Town	47,000
St Neots	East Anglia	Expanded town
Sudbury	East Anglia	Expanded town
Thetford	East Anglia	Expanded town
Bodmin	South West	Expanded town
Plymouth	South West	Expanded town
Swindon	South West	Expanded town
Corby	East Midlands	New Town	8,000
Grantham	East Midlands	Expanded town
Northampton	East Midlands	New Town	55,000
Wellingborough	East Midlands	Expanded town
Gainsborough	East Midlands	Expanded town
Burnley	North West	Expanded town

Consequences

In some places, where the incomers did not easily blend in with the local residents, the term London overspill scum could be, and was, used in a derogatory way. The situation of new overspill communities was portrayed in the 1960s soap opera, The Newcomers, partly filmed in Haverhill. The series showed problems of estrangement from a familiar environment and integration with an established community through the experiences of one family. An additional issue was that the easy link to London, the train service, was withdrawn as part of the concurrent "Beeching Axe", which added to the sense of isolation.

See also

• Overspill estate
• Niethrop and Bretch hill, Banbury
• Ruscote and Hardwick, Banbury