Editing Crawley (section)

===New Town===
In May 1946, the New Towns Act of 1946 identified Crawley as a suitable location for a [[New towns in the United Kingdom|New Town]];<ref name="SuppMem"/> but it was not officially designated as such until {{nowrap|9 January 1947}}.<ref name="Gazette">{{London Gazette|issue=37849|page=231|date=10 January 1947}}</ref> The {{convert|5920|acre|ha|0}} of land set aside for the new town were split across the county borders between [[East Sussex]], [[West Sussex]] and [[Surrey]]. Architect [[Thomas Bennett (architect)|Thomas Bennett]] was appointed chairman of [[Crawley Development Corporation]]. Members of the working group developing a master plan included Lawrence Neal, [[Alwyn Sheppard Fidler]], [[Caroline Haslett]], [[Molly Bolton]], Sir [[Edward Frank Gillett|Edward Gillett]], Eric Walter Pasold and Alderman James Marshall.<ref>{{Cite web |date=8 May 2023 |title=Cataloguing Crawley New Town: The Team Behind the Corp. |url=https://westsussexrecordofficeblog.com/2023/05/08/cataloguing-crawley-new-town-the-team-behind-the-corp/ |access-date=30 September 2023 |website=West Sussex Record Office |language=en}}</ref> A court challenge to the designation order meant that plans were not officially confirmed until December 1947. By this time, an initial plan for the development of the area had been drawn up by [[Anthony Minoprio]].<ref name="vic">{{cite web|url=http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.asp?compid=18414|title=Crawley New Town|access-date=31 July 2007|publisher=British History Online|year=1987|author=Hudson, T.P. (Ed)|work=A History of the County of Sussex: Volume 6 Part 3: Bramber Rape (North-Eastern Part) including Crawley New Town|archive-date=28 September 2007|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070928001914/http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.asp?compid=18414|url-status=live}}</ref> This proposed filling in the gaps between the villages of Crawley, [[Ifield, West Sussex|Ifield]] and [[Three Bridges, West Sussex|Three Bridges]].<ref name="cbc">{{cite web|url=http://www.crawley.gov.uk/stellent/idcplg?IdcService=SS_GET_PAGE&strCSS=PB1_SS_MAIN&nodeId=241|title=New Town History|access-date=10 March 2020|publisher=Crawley Borough Council|year=2005|work=Crawley Borough Council website|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181216163522/http://www.crawley.gov.uk/pw/Leisure_and_Culture/History_and_Heritage/New_Town_History/index.htm?strCSS=PB1_SS_MAIN|archive-date=16 December 2018|url-status=dead}}</ref> Bennett estimated that planning, designing and building the town, and increasing its population from the existing 9,500 to 40,000, would take 15 years.<ref name="13years">{{cite journal |last=Bennett |first=Thomas P. |author-link=Thomas Bennett (architect) |date=January 1961 |title=Crawley after Thirteen Years |journal=Town & County Planning |volume=XXIX |issue=I |pages=18–20 }}</ref>

Work began almost immediately to prepare for the expansion of the town. A full master plan was in place by 1949. This envisaged an increase in the population of the town to 50,000, residential properties in nine neighbourhoods radiating from the town centre, and a separate industrial area to the north.<ref name="vic"/> The neighbourhoods would consist mainly of three-bedroom family homes, with a number of smaller and larger properties. Each would be built around a centre with shops, a church, a [[public house]], a primary school and a [[community centre]].<ref name="cbc"/> Secondary education was to be provided at campuses at [[Ifield Community College|Ifield Green]], [[Three Bridges, West Sussex|Three Bridges]] and [[Tilgate, Crawley|Tilgate]].<ref name="plan">{{cite journal | title=First proposed structure plan, 1947| journal=Nostalgia: A Crawley Observer Supplement| year=1995| issue=2| page=3}}</ref> Later, a fourth campus, in [[Southgate, West Sussex|Southgate]], was added to the plans.<ref name="masterplan">{{Cite map|title=The Crawley Development Corporation's Master Plan for Crawley New Town|publisher=[[Crawley Development Corporation]]|year=1949}}</ref>

At first, little development took place in the town centre, and residents relied on the shops and services in the existing high street. The earliest progress was in [[West Green, Crawley|West Green]], where new residents moved in during the late 1940s. In 1950 the town was visited by the then heir to the throne, [[Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom|Princess Elizabeth]], when she officially opened the [[Manor Royal, Crawley|Manor Royal]] industrial area. Building work continued throughout the 1950s in [[West Green, West Sussex|West Green]], [[Northgate, Crawley|Northgate]] and [[Three Bridges, West Sussex|Three Bridges]], and later in [[Langley Green, Crawley|Langley Green]], [[Pound Hill, Crawley|Pound Hill]] and Ifield. In 1956, land at "Tilgate East" was allocated for housing use, eventually becoming the new neighbourhood of [[Furnace Green, Crawley|Furnace Green]].<ref name="vic"/>

Expectations of the eventual population of the town were revised upwards several times. The 1949 master plan had allowed for 50,000 people, but this was amended to 55,000 in 1956 after the Development Corporation had successfully resisted pressure from the Minister for Town and Country Planning to accommodate 60,000. Nevertheless, plans dated 1961 anticipated growth to 70,000 by 1980, and by 1969 consideration was given to an eventual expansion of up to 120,000.<ref name="vic"/>

[[File:Crawley.JPG|thumb|left|Queen's Square in the central shopping area, looking towards the bandstand, [[The Body Shop]], [[Marks & Spencer]] and the former [[Woolworths (United Kingdom)|Woolworths]] store]]
Extended shopping facilities to the east of the existing high street were provided. The first stage to open was The Broadwalk in 1954, following by the opening of the Queen's Square development by [[Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom|Her Majesty The Queen]] in 1958. Crawley railway station was moved eastwards towards the new development.<ref name="vic"/>

[[File:St Mary's Church, Southgate, Crawley (Jan 2013).JPG|thumb|right|One of the neighbourhood churches: St Mary's in Southgate (now a [[Locally listed buildings in Crawley|locally listed building]])]]
By April 1960, when Thomas Bennett made his last presentation as chairman of the Development Corporation, the town's population had reached 51,700; {{convert|2289000|sqft|m2|-2}} of the factory and other industrial space had been provided; 21,800 people were employed, nearly 60% of whom worked in manufacturing industries, and only seventy people were registered as unemployed. The corporation had built 10,254 houses, and private builders provided around 1,500 more. Tenants were by then permitted to buy their houses and 440&nbsp;householders had chosen to do so by April 1960.<ref name="13years"/>

A new plan was put forward by [[West Sussex County Council]] in 1961. This proposed new neighbourhoods at [[Broadfield, West Sussex|Broadfield]] and [[Bewbush]], both of which extended outside the administrative area of the then [[Urban district (England and Wales)|Urban District Council]]. Detailed plans were made for [[Broadfield, West Sussex|Broadfield]] in the late 1960s; by the early 1970s building work had begun. Further expansion at [[Bewbush]] was begun in 1974, although development there was slow. The two neighbourhoods were both larger than the original nine: together, their proposed population was 23,000. Work also took place in the area now known as [[Ifield, West Sussex|Ifield West]] on the western fringes of the town.<ref name="vicdates"/>

By 1980, the council identified land at [[Maidenbower]], south of the [[Pound Hill]] neighbourhood, as being suitable for another new neighbourhood, and work began in 1986. However, all of this development was undertaken privately, unlike the earlier neighbourhoods in which most of the housing was owned by the council.<ref name="vicdates"/>

In 1999, plans were announced to develop the 14th neighbourhood on land at [[Tinsley Green, West Sussex|Tinsley Green]] to the northeast of the town; this was given the go ahead in 2011 and is officially the town's 14th neighbourhood, named [[Forge Wood]] after the [[ancient woodland]] that is enclosed within the development. After a temporary halt to the proposals when a possible expansion at [[Gatwick Airport]] was announced,<ref name="nesector">{{cite web|url=http://www.crawley.gov.uk/stellent/idcplg?IdcService=SS_GET_PAGE&ssDocName=PR1966&ssTargetNodeId=99|title=Council wins fight against new neighbourhood|access-date=21 August 2007|publisher=Crawley Borough Council|date=15 May 2007|first=Janet |last=Treagus|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070928092233/http://www.crawley.gov.uk/stellent/idcplg?IdcService=SS_GET_PAGE&ssDocName=PR1966&ssTargetNodeId=99|archive-date=28 September 2007}}</ref> construction started in 2015.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.crawleynews24.co.uk/crawleys-new-forge-wood-school-officially-opened/ |title=Crawley's New Forge Wood school is officially opened |website=CrawleyNews24 |date=23 November 2017 |access-date=5 April 2020 |archive-date=18 September 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200918210829/https://www.crawleynews24.co.uk/crawleys-new-forge-wood-school-officially-opened/ |url-status=live }}</ref> [[Forge Wood]] is to have a maximum of 1900 homes.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://crawley.gov.uk/forgewood |title=Forge Wood |publisher=Crawley Borough Council |access-date=5 April 2020 |archive-date=22 January 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210122234119/https://crawley.gov.uk/community/about-crawley/crawleys-neighbourhoods/forge-wood |url-status=live }}</ref> Development of another neighbourhood began in 2012 on the western side of Crawley in the [[Horsham District|Horsham district]], named [[Kilnwood Vale]]. A plan for a new railway station fell through.<ref name="wnw"/>