London overspill

Abbey Farm was one of several housing estates built in Thetford to absorb London overspill population

London overspill communities are the communities created as a result of the government policy of moving residents out of Greater London into other areas in the South East of England between the 1930s and the 1970s. The policy was extended to relocate residents to several towns in the East Midlands, mostly Northamptonshire, situated near the M1 motorway and A1 trunk road. The policy even extended to the North West of England, with the town of Burnley in Lancashire, more than 200 miles from London, even being designated as a London overspill town.

These largely consisted of council houses and new towns.

Policy development

The policy was initiated in the 1930s, and 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 existing or 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	10,000
Gainsborough	East Midlands	Expanded town
Burnley	North West	Expanded town

See also

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