"The minister for town and country planning in the post-war Labour government saw new towns as the solution to the UK's housing crisis.
"An East End boy by birth, Lewis Silkin had a passion and vision for new towns which would see the neighbourly "spirit of the slums" combine with easy access to the countryside, sports and leisure facilities in a self-contained community.
"The resulting 1946 New Towns Act aimed to free people from the smog and cramped living conditions of the big cities and move them into leafy, close-knit, towns in the shires.
"Building on the earlier Garden City movement, Silkin presented a Utopian vision. Stevenage, and other new towns, would be where rich mixed with poor and 'a new type of citizen, a healthy, self-respecting, dignified person with a sense of beauty, culture and civic pride' would be created.
"However, the path to creating such a place was not smooth."
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