New Addington, or the changing idea(l)s of social housing

The manor of Addington was first attested in the Doomsday Book (1086) and included several farms and woodland. It lay south of the village of Addington in Surrey. Historically the parish of Addington was part of the Wallington Hundred. It is now part of Croydon, a former market town that became part of Greater London in 1965 as the London Borough of Croydon.

In 1935, as part of the push for suburbanisation inspired by the principles of the Garden City Movement, the First National Housing Trust (FNHT) acquired over 142 hectares of land known as Fisher's Farm to lay out an new garden village. This idea was fiercely supported by Croydon Council who saw the new garden village as an ideal way to resolve bad living conditions and overcrowding in its inner-city areas. The FNHT was a subsidiary of Henry Boot PLC a large construction company that constructed more houses in the inter-war years than any other company or developer. Charles boot (son of Henry) imagined well-built affordable houses away from the overcrowded cities in new garden village satellites and new garden cities. The garden cities he proposed in Dagenham and Waltham Abby never came to be, but several garden village satellites were completed. One of these was New Addington.

The layout of present-day New Addington clearly shows three spatial ideas expressed in the pattern of streets. This is matched by the way the buildings are placed, but these have not been included for clarity. The initial garden village stands out by its layout of streets but also inclusion of a central green zone. The two subsequent expansions of the garden village become more and more removed from the characteristics of the garden village culminating in the northern council estate planned along the lines of CIAM principles.

The site of the new garden village consisted of a deep valley with steep hillsides on either side. Fisher's Farm stood on the edge of the North Downs, hence the uneven terrain. Work on New Addington started in 1936 and came to an abrupt halt in 1940 after the outbreak of war. By this time 1.024 houses and 23 shops had been constructed in a fan of streets in between the central access road and Addington Vale. This part of the garden village is also known as the Boots Estate. Although the spacious layout and good quality housing provided proved popular with residents, the pace of house building didn't match the development of amenities. So most residents had to travel to find, for instance, employment, entertainment, leisure and schooling.

After the end of the war building work resumed. Croyden now had 55,000 people on the waiting list for housing. At the same time planners tried to curb and direct the growth of the metropolis by designating development areas and green belts. Croydon Council bought the unused land off the FNHT and quickly developed council housing here (more or less along the lines of the original layout for the garden village with a central open space) and expanded the facilities by finishing Central Parade with its shops. Also schools were built to cope with the exploding birth rate. What was neglected in this frenzy to provide housing was to better connect New Addington to the rest of the Borough. The nearest train station still lay 2,5 miles away. A small industrial estate was included though, but this wasn't enough to provide for the majority of residents. The result was a suburban satellite comprising of four housing estates and an eccentrically placed centre that followed the spatial conventions of the Garden City Movement.

Croydon Council had great ambitions in providing social and affordable housing. It therefore acquired 100 hectares of the Castle Hill Farm directly adjacent to the garden village planned by the FNHT with the aim to develop more housing here. The first housing built on site took the shape of 230 prefabs for homeless families. This temporary accommodation stood on Castle Hill Avenue and was finished in 1948. The layout of this Castle Hill Estate was a slight break from the spatial conventions of the garden village as it basically consists of two loop roads with an infill of curved and straight streets. In de 1950s building work started in earnest with the erection of terraced housing and some apartment blocks. The closes and cul-de-sacs that formed an integral part of the garden village where abandoned in this new section of New Addington. There was however  great care taken to provide schools and churches. Development of the Castle Hill Estate was completed by 1963.

At that time there was still a housing shortage in Croydon, so the Council sought permission to expand New Addington even further towards the village of Addington. On 22 hectares the Fieldway Estate was developed. This housing estate was a clear break from garden city ideals in both layout, type of housing and amenities to be included. By 1968 1412 houses had been completed along cul-de-sacs that ran off a winding, wide loop road. Most of these houses where terraces, but middle-rise and high-rise apartment building were also included. The buildings are placed with no spatial relation to the main access road in a so-called "urban field" comprising of gardens and public green spaces with footpaths connecting the short side streets. At the heart of the development a small concentration of shops was provided with a pub included for good measure. The whole is a typical example of a spill-over estate.

New Addington comprises of the old garden village with the oldest housing located n the Boots Estate (1) next to the Central Parade (2) with shops and amenities. Addington Vale (3) separates this area from the Rowdown Estate (4) which itself connects to the Milne Park East Estate (6). Milne Park (7) separates this estate from the Milne Park West Estate (8). A small industrial estate (5) has been inserted on the edge of the garden village. Along Hutchinson's Bank a small-scale addition (9) was made with housing similar to the large Castle Hill Estate (10). The Fieldway Estate (11) forms the edge of New Addington towards the village of Addington.

The residents became more isolated with the expansion of New Addington as the facilities provided didn't keep pace with the number of residents. So all who had the opportunity left and were replaced by less well-off people and immigrants, both with little opportunities or prospects. This meant that New Addington, and the Fieldway Estate in particular, gained notoriety as a place of systemic unemployment, low education, drug abuse, domestic violence, teenage pregnancies and high crime rates. The opening of the Tramlink to Croydon in 2000 - finally - lifted the longstanding isolation of New Addington, thus addressing the single biggest failure in the planning of this suburban satellite.