THE BUILT CHARACTER

Stapleford, in common with many other towns of a similar size and nature, has a diverse housing stock. No particular style is predominant, but it is possible to distinguish a number of different strands which come together to form the visual impact that we have today. These will be considered as they develop over time, based on four periods, pre-1875, 1875-1914,1918-1939 and 1945-2019.

Houses built before 1875

The number of houses still standing that were built before 1875, the date when urban powers were obtained, is very low. The town's two most significant buildings, the Hall dating from the 18th century, and the Manor House, dating from 1676, were demolished in 1935 and 1970 respectively. A cluster of houses on Nottingham Road, including some lacemakers' cottages, date from the early to mid 19th century and these are now within a conservation area. Church Lane is also within a conservation area based on the parish church and here there are two houses dating from the late 18th to early 19th century. Outside the conservation areas, there are two old cottages of uncertain age still in existence, the old mill cottage at the bottom of Mill Road, and the cottage at the junction of Ilkeston Road and Hickings Lane. At the time when the 1939 register was taken there were about 300 houses built before 1875 or about 10% of the total housing stock at the time. Most of these were in the Lot Street/East Street area and, apart from the houses in the two conservation areas mentioned above, were pulled down under Slum Clearance programmes between 1954 and 1962. They were built mainly of locally produced red bricks with tiled roofs.

The Shardlow Rural Sanitary Authority was granted 'urban powers' in respect of Stapleford in 1875 and was then able to make byelaws which governed the construction of dwellings. This improvement in standards meant that houses built after that date are, by and large, still in existence. The largest group is typified by being built on or close to the line of the street. They were built to a modest standard with little or no decoration and had shared facilities at the rear of the properties and access from the front via shared entries. Typical examples would be Alexandra Street, Orchard Street and Victoria Street, all built between 1875 and 1881. In 1939 about 800 or 25% of the houses in the town were of this type.

In addition a number of better quality houses were built during this period. There were about 500 semi-detached houses built of varying design. They were well constructed, with added decoration and often with a bay window. They tended to be built later on the period between 1901 and 1911 and at an increased distance from the centre of the village. Good examples are the south side of Mill Road and Birley Street.

There were also a small number of detached houses. A particularly distinctive group, unique in Stapleford, can be found on Edward Street where 27 detached houses of high quality were built for Ball and Chatfield in 1906.

Houses built between 1918 and 1939.

Two new housing strands emerged during this period. Local authority housing appeared for the first time and the private sector complemented it with housing of similar design.

After the First World War Britain was facing a severe housing crisis. Lloyd George in his famous speech had promised 'habitations fit for the heroes who have won the war.' This became 'homes fit for heroes' in the following day's newspapers. Three Housing Acts were passed, generally known by the name of the Minister for Health at the time. Addison's Act[1] of 1919 made money available for councils to build houses for rent. Chamberlain's Act[2] of 1923 funded private housing and Wheatley's Act[3] of 1924 once again provided funds for local authorities to build houses.

A scheme was approved under Addison's Act for 6 houses on a site at the Albany but this never received government approval owing to shortage of funds. The grants made available for private housing under Chamberlain's Act were more widely taken up in Stapleford. 96 'subsidy' houses were built. These mainly benefitted the middle classes as they were the only ones who could afford the repayments.

Stapleford was generally reluctant to build council housing. The matter first came before the Council in 1919 but it was not until 1924 that the decision was made to consider a housing scheme built and financed by the local authority and which actually came into fruition. This came after much discussion and divided opinions between the council members, and after the Rev. Crawford Hillis had castigated his fellow councillors from the pulpit and in the parish magazine for their inaction. The first council houses were built on Frederick Road followed by Edward Street and Moorbridge Lane. The early council houses were built before designs were standardised and the 30 houses on Edward Street, particularly, have a number of attractive features. They were constructed to a high quality and, in some cases, might easily be assumed to be built by the private sector. The 'M' shaped gable ends and the continuance of the roof down to first floor level of one group is particularly distinctive and repeated to some degree on Moorbridge Lane. In total 290 council houses were built in this period-approximately one tenth of the housing stock at the time in 1939.

The 1930s was an era of cheap money and this had two consequences. Firstly, the building industry could finance its activities more easily and, secondly, the working classes could afford the mortgages offered by the building societies. Local developers in the area were able to build a class of housing designed for that section of the working class who could only afford to rent. They were similar in appearance to the standard council house except that they were often built in long terraces. They were often known as 'Hooley's houses' after Ernest Hooley, a Long Eaton builder, who was prominent in this area. Just over 200 of these houses were built. Oakfield Road is a typical example.

The demand from the upper working classes for better quality houses, either to rent or to own, and the availability of finance through the building societies resulted in a building boom of semi-detached houses. These ranged from the classic variety with tudor gables to more prosaic standardised designs. In total about 600 of these houses were built, about 20% of the housing stock in 1939, making a significant visual impact on Stapleford's scene.

Houses built between 1945 and 2019

The number of dwellings in Stapleford grew during this period from about 3000 to about 7000 with most of the increase taking place before 1990. This was the era of the big housing developers when large estates were built both by national companies such as Wimpeys and local firms such as Westermans. Large council estates were also built and approximately 1700 houses were added to the 290 already built by the local authority before the war. These include 137 units in retirement homes and sheltered housing. Part of the Hickings Lane Estate was laid out according to the 'Radburn' principle whereby the fronts of the houses faced on to a green area and the backs onto a shared access road. During this period about 270 houses were demolished in slum clearance projects and replaced by council houses and flats.

The homes built by the big developers were generally standardised and lacked variety both in design and estate lay out. Westerman did break away from the standard pattern to some extent with their alpine village on Blake Road with its chalet bungalows having steep pitched roofs designed to shed snow. The tension between design and price was rarely happily resolved even at the top end of the market such as the development at Westerlands, where some resorted to leaded lights and diamond panes in a search for vernacular authenticity.

The future.

At the present time there are only three areas of suitable farmland in the parish which are not built over. The area between Ilkeston Road and the Hemlock Stone known as Fields Farm, the Stapleford -Toton border and the land north of the Crematorium on Coventry Lane.

Phase I of the Fields Farm estate was built by Westerman, who have owned the land since February 1993. Outline planning permission has been received for 450 houses. The properties range from 1 bedroom maisonettes to 5 bedroom family homes. Affordable housing, as envisaged by the National Planning Policy Framework, appears in Stapleford for the first time. The percentage of houses required for this part of the development is tucked away in a small cul de sac. After completing Phase I Westermans decided to withdraw from the project and sold the land to Peveril Homes who plan to build Phase II and Phase III.

The Stapleford-Toton site south of Toton Lane received outline planning permission for 1000 houses but this has been scaled down to 750. The site was being developed by Peveril Homes to be known as Lime Rise and the concept was to have a 'garden city' feel to the area. Detailed planning applications were in process. However, the curtailment of HS2 appears to have cause a rethink and Peveril Homes sold the land to Nottinghamshire County Council for £21m. with Peveril Homes having a right of pre-emption. The land north of Toton Lane, Windmill Hill, is part of the green belt although included in a potential area for homes in the Greater Nottingham Strategic Plan.

Fig.19. Artist's impression of Lime Rise. Note the 'M' shaped gables and compare the design with the 1926 council houses on Edward Street in Fig.8

The third area to the north of the crematorium on Coventry Lane is at an early stage of planning. It is envisaged that 240 houses will be built on this site. The planning application is by Peter James Homes Ltd.

The development of these three sites means that practically all the open farm land, except perhaps the greenbelt area near Windmill Hill, has been allocated for housing.

Note on the method used to calculate the number of houses built and the housing stock.

In order to classify the housing stock into the various categories it was necessary to find a starting point that was both comprehensive and available in sufficient detail to permit a street by street survey. Fortunately, the 1939 Register was on line and a list was prepared of the number of houses in each street and road. Then an approximate breakdown by category was calculated using Google Street View and personal memory, if the houses no longer existed. The availabllty of the 1939 Register was fortuitous in so far as it gives a usful snapshit of the 'old' Stapleford before the post-war housebuilding explosion.

Once the position in 1939 was established it was then necessary to work out the number and type of houses built between then and the present day(2019.) The current number of houses in Stapleford was calculated by using the Post Code Finder. A figure for the number of council houses built and the number of houses demolished under slum clearance schemes could be found from the records of Beeston & Stapleford Urban District Council in the Notts. Record Office. Using these figures it was then possible to calculate a rough approximation of the number of houses built by private enterprise during the period from 1939 to 2019.

These numbers cannot be absolutely exact and the allocation to the various categories is sometimes a question of judgement. However, it is felt that they are sufficiently close to enable a reasonable assessment to be made of the built environment.

It seemed to be very difficult to find information about houses built by private enterprise between 1939 and 2019. A Westerman's brochure celebrating 75 years, and sundry references in estate agents' adverts to the original builders of properties for sale, e.g the Wimpey Estate off Pasture Road, have been the only comments shedding light on this area. Any further information which gives details of the work of other builders will be gratefully received and will enable more detail to be added to that section.