English rural district house-building 1919-1974 dataset, with rural-urban comparative data 1945-1974

This dataset provides information for the analysis of rural housing, rural-urban comparisons in housing and leadership within local government. The material provided covers services and actions associated with the provision and maintenance of housing, such as land-use planning, sewerage and water services, house building finance, dwelling improvement and modernisation, slum clearance, overcrowding, under-occupation, second homes, caravans, homes for employees, civilian accommodation in military huts and camps, labour and materials supply, dwelling costs and cost yardsticks, building consortia, building by direct labour forces, non-traditional building methods, new and expanding towns, prefabricated dwellings, flats and bungalows, temporary dwellings, waiting lists, tenant selection, council regulation of tenants, the regulation of private landlords, and issues of geographical distribution nationally, within regions and within localities. The dataset focuses on 17 rural districts, with seven explored over the time period 1900-1974 (primarily 1919-1974) and a further 10 for 1945-1974, for which period a large body of statistical data are available on many aspects of housing conditions and supply, along with local socioeconomic conditions, for all 1,165 local authorities in England (as existed in 1971, with the data covering 1945-1973). The period focused on is before the huge middle-class inflows into the countryside that have since occurred; where the primary issue in rural housing was poor quality and insufficient supply at acceptable standards. A central resource in the dataset is insight on the provision of social housing, for those unable to afford house purchases. Key insights are embedded on local leadership and central-local government relations. For 13 rural districts, the dataset has substantive information from county record offices on council decisions, decision rationale and indicators of decision outcomes. There are complementary insights from newspaper accounts of council actions, both for these 13 and for a further four rural councils, along with material from Medical Officer of Health reports. The rural districts in the detailed 13 council focus are: Ampthill and Biggleswade (both Bedfordshire), Braughing and Hatfield (Hertfordshire), Elham and West Ashford (Kent), Erpingham, Smallburgh and Walsingham (Norfolk), Richmond and Settle (North Yorkshire) and Dorking & Horley and Godstone (Surrey), with less detailed supplementary information on Sturminster and Wimborne & Cranborne (Dorset) and Droitwich and Evesham (Worcestershire). This material is supplemented with extensive coverage of national government decision-making as revealed in files in The National Archives, alongside coverage of national (and rural) debates on housing, with considerable statistical information accompanying this, from House of Commons Hansard reports.