Building better communities: social life on London's cottage council estates, 1919–1939

Abstract

Implicit in the planning and development of the suburban cottage council estates of inter-war England were hopes for a new way of life. The model of development provided by the Tudor Walters Report of picturesque cottages, streets, gardens and greens presupposed harmonious social relations and a sense of community. Yet one of the strongest narratives of suburban working-class life is the loneliness and desolation of the cottage council estates. The estates are usually depicted, by both contemporary and modern com-mentators, as bereft of any sense of community. This paper re-examines these views of the cottage council estates by detailing the development of social life in the inter-war period upon Roehampton and Watling, two of the London County Council's (LCC) housing estates. Drawing upon the oral testimony of surviving estate residents it is argued that from their perspective community was not absent from either estate, with the precise nature of community reflecting each estate's social composition. However, an unduly pessimistic view of life on the estates still emerged following the failure of the Community Association movement to engender support from the estate residents for a brand of community life centred upon educational and essentially civilising ‘constructive’ leisure pursuits.