Metropolitan Board of Works
The Metropolitan Board of Works ( MBW ; German Metropolitan Committee for Public Buildings ) was a special-purpose association in London that existed from 1855 to 1889. The main task of the MBW was to plan and build infrastructure buildings centrally in the conurbation, which was then split up into many independent communities, in order to be able to keep pace with the rapid growth. The representatives of the MBW were not elected, but appointed. The resulting lack of transparency was the main cause of the rampant corruption in the late phase and the replacement of the MBW by the London County Council .
background
With the construction of railways , the expansion of the metropolitan area had accelerated sharply since the 1830s. The local administrative structures of London were extremely complex; with hundreds of civil parishes, judicial districts, and specialized agencies whose members were only rarely elected. For a project that crossed one or more borders, everyone involved had to give their consent.
Except in London, municipal boroughs with elected officials were created across the country in 1835 as part of a major administrative reform . The City of London - the core of the sprawling metropolis - was exempted from the Municipal Corporations Act 1835 and successfully fought against all efforts to incorporate the mostly poorer neighboring districts. This resulted in the metropolitan area remaining on the territory of three counties . The area north of the Thames and west of the Lea belonged to Middlesex , the south and south-west to Surrey , and the extreme south-east to Kent .
In 1837 efforts were made to create an elected authority for the entire London metropolitan area, but the affluent boroughs of Marylebone and Westminster resisted and prevented implementation. In 1854 it was proposed that London be grouped into seven boroughs , with the Metropolitan Board of Works as the central planning authority. The formation of the boroughs did not materialize, but the MBW was founded in 1855.
Foundation and organization
In order to have a legal basis for the creation of a special purpose association, the British Parliament passed the Metropolis Management Act 1855 . The MBW created with this law also took over the tasks of the Metropolitan Buildings Office, founded in 1845, and the Metropolitan Commission of Sewers, founded in 1848 . From the beginning, the MBW was not an elected authority, but consisted of appointed representatives of the judicial districts (vestries) . The major judicial districts sent two representatives, the City of London three. In a few cases, the judicial districts were too small and so they joined with others to appoint a representative. The committee consisted of 45 members. At the first meeting of the MBW on December 22, 1855, John Thwaites was elected chairman.
The meetings first took place in the Guildhall of the City of London , the administration was on Greek Street in Soho . In 1859 a new Italian-style administrative building was built in Spring Gardens (near Trafalgar Square ). It was designed by Frederick Marrable , chief architect of MBW. After the death of Chairman John Thwaites on August 8, 1870, James Macnaghten Hogg (later Lord Magheramorne) was elected to succeed him. Hogg remained in office until the MBW was dissolved. In 1885 the number of MBW representatives was increased to 59.
tasks
A major problem in the early days was the sewage that was discharged directly into the Thames . As the drinking water mainly came from the river, cholera epidemics broke out regularly . In warm weather the river literally stank to the sky. After the legendary " Great Stench " in the summer of 1858, Parliament commissioned the MBW to plan and build a comprehensive underground sewer system . In two decades, 135 kilometers of main sewers and 1,750 kilometers of sewers were built under the direction of chief engineer Joseph Bazalgette (see also: London sewer system ).
Other tasks included clearing slums so that new roads could be built there to relieve traffic problems. The most important of these new main streets were Charing Cross Road, Garrick Street, Northumberland Avenue, Shaftesbury Avenue and Southwark Street. From 1869 the MBW acquired all private bridges over the Thames and abolished the toll . He also had the Putney Bridge , Battersea Bridge , Waterloo Bridge and Hammersmith Bridge rebuilt .
Scandals
Despite the merits that were certainly there, the MBW enjoyed a low reputation among the population. Its status as a special purpose association isolated the members from any influence of public opinion, although all property owners had to pay an additional tax to finance the work of the MBW. The MBW had a large number of construction contracts to award. Many contractors who applied for this therefore tried to get a seat on the committee. In addition, the MBW made all decisions in secret. This led to numerous corruption scandals in the 1880s and the establishment of a commission of inquiry by the government.
The first scandal originated in 1879, when the MBW bought the old “Pavilion” variety theater in Piccadilly Circus so that it could build Shaftesbury Avenue after it was demolished. When the road was still in the early construction phase, the property was leased to the vaudeville owner RE Villiers until further notice. In addition to the normal rent to the committee, Villiers also secretly paid a bribe to FW Goddard, the MBW's chief appraiser, in order to obtain preferential treatment. In 1883 the demolition of the building was only a matter of time. Villiers met with Goddard and Thomas James Robertson (assistant geodesist ) to ensure that the rest of the property was passed on to him in order to be able to build a new "pavilion" there. The MBW representatives agreed if Villiers would give a corner of the property to WW Gray so that he could run a pub there. Gray was Robertson's brother, though that wasn't obvious at the time.
In November 1884, Robertson announced to Villiers that the time had come to submit a formal offer to MBW to lease the property. Villiers offered £ 2,700 land lease a year. The MBW commissioned its chief architect, George Vulliamy, to evaluate the property. The decrepit Vulliamy left practically all the work to his subordinates, Goddard and Robertson. They wrote a report that put the property at £ 3,000 a year. Villiers responded immediately. The committee approved the lease after a short time, despite a competing offer of £ 4,000. The property was leased in two parts, the larger for £ 2,650 and the western corner for £ 350. Goddard continued to collect extra payments from Villiers and the west corner was transferred to Gray, who sold his pub on Tichborn Street and shared the £ 10,000 profit with Goddard and Robertson. Villiers sold the Pavilion in December 1886 and Godard received an additional £ 5,000 from the proceeds.
More cases of corruption
For years there had been vague indications that the committee was encouraging firms applying for construction contracts to hire members of the committee as architects. MBW member James Ebenezer Saunders was appointed chief architect of the “Pavilion”. He did the same job building the Grand Hotel and Metropole Hotel on Northumberland Avenue (both on land owned by MBW), but the real work was done by others. Francis Hayman Fowler, who could not complain about a lack of work, had accepted money from landowners and tenants under conditions that clearly indicated bribery .
John Hebb, assistant architect to the committee, was responsible for inspecting safety conditions in theaters , among other things . He wrote to the managers of those theaters that were about to be inspected that they would do well to send him free tickets. Given the committee's power to shut down theaters, most gave in. The theater managers didn't particularly appreciate the inspections anyway and were annoyed by the corrupt behavior. So they sent Hebb tickets for seats that were as far back as possible in the hall or where the view of the stage was obscured by a pillar.
Investigative commission
The Goddard-Robertson scandal was exposed when the newspaper Financial News published a series of articles on October 25, 1886 about the various machinations. The committee itself carried out a totally inadequate investigation, chaired by Hogg. The investigation concluded that Robertson had acted illegally in making relatives tenants of the committee without informing the committee. However, the committee found nothing that would justify a severe punishment.
The public was outraged and kept up the pressure. At the request of Randolph Churchill , in whose constituency Paddington South the resistance against the MBW was particularly high, the House of Commons decided on February 16, 1888 to set up a commission of inquiry. The commission, led by Lord Herschell , concluded that the Financial News’s main allegations were true, and even understated. Other scandals were also exposed, including the one about the architects who were members of the MBW. However, the commission did not share the widespread opinion that the MBW was downright infested with corruption.
resolution
While the Commission is still preparing its hearings, responsible for the supervision of local government minister was Charles Ritchie announced that as part of administrative reform throughout the UK called County Councils (county councils) would be created. Almost hidden in the draft law was a clause that separated the area of the MBW from the counties of Surrey , Middlesex and Kent (the later County of London ). This essentially corresponded to the wishes of the activists against the MBW, who were calling for an administrative reform anyway.
The last few weeks of the MBW were also its most inglorious. On January 21, 1889, the London County Council (LCC) had been elected, which should begin its work on April 1. The MBW pushed all long-term binding decisions to the LCC and began to pay generous pensions to retiring committee members and high wages to those employees who would work for the new authority. The MBW gave Marylebone Samaritan Hospital permission to use an additional twelve feet of the sidewalk, which the LCC declined. The LCC wrote to the MBW to reverse the decision, but none of those responsible responded.
The MBW had received the offers for the construction of the Blackwall tunnel and decided to award the contract at its very last meeting. Again the LCC wrote to the MBW to leave the decision to the successor authority. On March 18, 1889, the chairman of the MBW wrote back that he was sticking to his approach. The LCC turned directly to the government, which then prematurely dissolved the MBW on March 21, 1889.
The MBW building was taken over by London County Council. This then moved to County Hall in 1922 . The old building was used as a branch of the LCC until the original, hundred-year lease expired in 1958. The central government then set up offices there. Eventually the building was demolished in 1971 to make way for the new British Council headquarters .
literature
- Gloria C. Clifton: Professionalism, Patronage, and Public Service in Victorian London. The Staff of the Metropolitan Board of Works, 1856-1889. Athlone Press, London a. a. 1992, ISBN 0-485-11387-2 .
- David Owen: The Government of Victorian London, 1855-1889. The Metropolitan Board of Works, the Vestries, and the City Corporation. Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, Cambridge MA a. a. 1982, ISBN 0-674-35885-6 .