Chartered Surveyors Westminster Greater London

Approximate Population: 181,279

The historic core of Westminster, Greater London, is the former Thorney Island on which Westminster Abbey was built. The Abbey became the traditional venue of the coronation of the kings and queens of England. The nearby Palace of Westminster came to be the principal royal residence after the Norman Conquest of England in 1066, and later housed the developing Parliament and law courts of England. It can be said that London thus has developed two distinct focal points: an economic one in the City of London; and a political and cultural one in Westminster, where the Royal Court had its home. This division is still very apparent today.
Westminster in 1593.

The monarchy later moved to the Palace of Whitehall a little towards the north-east. The law courts have since moved to the Royal Courts of Justice, close to the border of the City of London. The area is still the centre of government, with Parliament now located in the Palace of Westminster and most of the major Government ministries situated in Westminster, centred on Whitehall. “Westminster” is thus often used as a metonym for Parliament and the political community of the United Kingdom generally. The civil service is similarly referred to by the area it inhabits, “Whitehall”, and “Westminster” is consequently also used in reference to the Westminster System, the parliamentary model of democratic government that has evolved in the United Kingdom. The Westminster System is used with some adaptation in many other nations, particularly in the Commonwealth of Nations and other parts of the former British Empire.

Close to the Palace of Westminster and Westminster Abbey is Westminster School, one of the major English public schools. Three of the four campuses of the University of Westminster are within the greater London borough of the City of Westminster , although none in the ancient area of Westminster.

The area has a substantial residential population, a surprisingly large proportion of which is a traditional London working class community living in council and Peabody Trust estates at the back of Westminster Abbey and off Millbank. There is also a substantial working class community in the north of the borough.

The term Westminster Village, sometimes used in the context of British politics, does not refer to a geographical area at all; employed especially in the phrase Westminster Village gossip, it denotes a supposedly close social circle of Members of Parliament, political journalists, so-called spin doctors and others connected to events in the Palace of Westminster.

Chartered Surveyors Westminster Greater London

Chartered Surveyors Swindon Wiltshire

Approximate Population: 155,432

At the census of 2001 there were 180,061 people and 75,154 occupied houses in the Swindon Unitary Authority in Wiltshire.The average household size was 2.38 people. The population density was 780/km² (2020.19/mi²). 20.96% of the population were 0–15 years old, 72.80% 16-74, and the remaining 6.24% were 75 years old or over. For every 100 females there were 98.97 males. Approximately 300,000 people live within 20 minutes of Swindon town centre.
The Wilts and Berks Canal near Rushey Platt, Swindon.

The ethnic make-up of the town was 95.2% white, 1.3% Indian, and 3.5% other. 92.4% were born in the UK, 2.7% in the EU, and 4.9% elsewhere. It has been forecast that there will be a 70,000 (38.9%) increase in Swindon’s population by 2026; from the current 180,000, to 250,000. Swindon’s sizeable population and large urban expanse has raised the question as to whether it should be granted city status.

Swindon is considered to be a microcosm of the whole United Kingdom in its demographic make-up, to the extent that it has been used for market research purposes and trials of new products and services. One example was the ill-fated Mondex electronic money.

A 2007 report by Endsleigh Insurance concluded that the town was the second safest place to live in the UK, second only to Guildford in Surrey. This was based on the number of insurance claims made in the region and the incidence of burglaries and accidents reported. Endsleigh commented that “Swindon is a great example of where local authorities, working hand in hand with the community, have played a key role in bringing down crime”

Chartered Surveyors Swindon Wiltshire

Chartered Surveyors Solihull West Midlands

Approximate Population: 94,753

Solihull, West Midlands, has a number of parks including Malvern Park, Brueton Park, Tudor Grange Park, Elmdon Park and Shirley Park. The nearest parks to the town centre are Malvern and Brueton parks. They are interlinked and cover about 130 acres (0.53 km2). Brueton Park used to be part of the grounds of Malvern Hall, which dates back to about 1690. It is home now to St Martin’s School. Solihull has numerous leisure facilities including a public swimming pool on the edge of Tudor Grange Park.

This pool replaced an outdoor pool in Tudor Grange Park which was demolished in the 1960s. The pool has now been replaced again by a smaller but more modern pool in the new leisure centre. At present there are two sports centres, the more modern Tudor Grange sports centre, and the older Norman Green sports centre, formerly known as the Norman Green Athletics Centre. There is also an outdoor wooden skateboarding and in-line skating facility in Tudor Grange Park. Sailing takes place on Olton Reservoir.

The borough is well served by numerous youth groups, both from the statutory and voluntary sector. Amongst these is Knowle Sea Scout Groupbased in the south of Solihull which is sponsored by the Royal Navy and provides a wide programme of activities for young people from all over Solihull aged from 6 to 18.

The recently refurbished ice rink on Hobs Moat Road is home to Solihull’s ice hockey teams the Solihull Barons, Solihull Vikings, a Junior ice hockey team, the Mohawks ice racing club, as well as ice dance and figure skating clubs. Above the ice rink is a Rileys snooker club.

Chartered Surveyors Solihull West Midlands

Chartered Surveyors Croydon Greater London

Approximate Population: 330,700

As Croydon, Greater London, continued to grow it became especially popular as a pleasant leafy residential suburb for members of the Victorian middle classes, who could commute to the City of London by fast train in 15 minutes. In 1883 Croydon was incorporated as a borough. In 1889 it became a county borough, with a still greater degree of autonomy. The new county borough council implemented the Croydon Improvement scheme in the early 1890s, which resulted in the widening of the High Street and the clearance of much of the ‘Middle Row’ slum area.

The remaining slums were cleared shortly after World War II, with much of the population relocated to the isolated new community at New Addington. New stores opened and expanded in central Croydon, including Allders, Kennards and Grants, and the first Sainsbury’s self-service shop in the country. There was also a bustling market on Surrey Street.

By the 1950s, with its continuing growth, the town was becoming congested, and the Council decided to introduce another major redevelopment scheme. The Croydon Corporation Act was passed in 1956. This, coupled with government incentives for office relocation out of London, led to the building of new offices and accompanying road schemes through the late 1950s and 1960s, and the town boomed as an important business centre in the 1960s, with the building of a large number of multi-storey office blocks, an underpass, a flyover and multi-storey car parks.

In 1912 a Woolworths branch opened in Croydon. This shop became the chain’s longest running branch, but was forced to close in January 2009 after the entire chain went into administration in December 2008.

Chartered Surveyors Croydon Greater London

Chartered Surveyors Barnet Greater London

Approximate Population: 323,100

Barnet, Greater London, was the site of the Battle of Barnet in 1471 (more accurately, Hadley), where Yorkist troops led by King Edward IV killed the rebellious “Kingmaker” Richard Neville, Earl of Warwick and Warwick’s brother, John Neville, 1st Marquess of Montagu.

It is the site of an ancient and well-known horse fair, hence the rhyming slang of Barnet Fair or barnet for “hair”. The fair dates back to 1588 when Queen Elizabeth I granted a charter to the Lord of the Manor of Barnet the right to hold a twice yearly fair.

Chipping Barnet (chipping meaning market) was historically a civil parish of Hertfordshire and formed part of the Barnet Urban District from 1894. The parish was abolished in 1965 and the Chipping Barnet section of its former area was transferred to Greater London and the newly-created London Borough of Barnet. In 1801 the parish had a population of 1,258 and covered an area of 1,440 acres (6 km²). By 1901 the parish was reduced to 380 acres (1.5 km²) and had a population of 2,893. In 1951 the population was 7,062.

In Saxon times the site was part of an extensive wood called Southaw, belonging to the Abbey of St Albans. The name of the town appears in early deeds as ‘Bergnet’ – the Saxon word ‘Bergnet’[5] meant a little hill (monticulus). Barnet’s elevated position is also indicated in one of its alternative names (’High Barnet’), which appears in many old books and maps, and which the railway company restored. According to local belief, though not verified, “Barnet stands on the highest ground betwixt London and York.” The area was historically a common resting point on the traditional Great North Road between the City of London and York and Edinburgh.

At the turn of the 21st century, a tongue-in-cheek movement calling for the name Barnet to be changed to “Barnét” began to gain the attention of the public and the national media, with many public road signs in the area regularly being altered to contain the accented character. Despite some support from residents, Barnet Council has been treating any such alterations to public road signs as vandalism.

Chartered Surveyors Barnet Greater London

Chartered Surveyors St. Helens Merseyside

Approximate Population: 102,629

The past twenty years have seen major redevelopments in St. Helens, Merseyside. This has included mass pedestrianisation of much of shopping area, with traffic being directed around the town centre on existing roads. There have been several noteworthy theatres in St.Helens. The first Theatre Royal was built on Bridge Street and was a large wooden barn. This was open for several seasons until heavy snow caused the roof to collapse. It was then replaced by a new Theatre Royal on Milk Street. This building can still be seen today, in its newer guise as The Citadel arts centre.

The Theatre Royal on Milk Street consisted of stalls, two balconies and an ornate interior. It became extremely popular with touring theatre and music hall, playing host to the likes of Vesta Tilley and George Formby and some of the best known theatre productions of the day. Most of its popularity was due to the manager, Wallace Revill. Due to the growing audience figures, Revill built a new theatre on Corporation street and transferred the Theatre Royal name to this, and the Theatre Royal remains on the site to this day. The Milk Street theatre was then purchased by the Salvation Army where it was more or less completely re-built internally. It was re named SA Citadel. It remained in this use for nearly 90 years, until the Salvation Army moved to a newer site. It was then opened as The Citadel arts centre in 1988, and was completely refurbished again in 2000. Today it is an extremely popular venue for live music, dance, drama and art.

The Corporation St Theatre Royal opened by Revill, was relatively short-lived as it was destroyed by fire. It was then replaced by the current building which was designed by perhaps the greatest theatre architect in history, Frank Matcham. The theatre was designed with a baroque style with ornate balconies, chandeliers and boxes. It was hit by disaster again in the 1940s when part of the celling collapsed, with several fatalities as a result. In the 1960s the theatre was purchased by Pilkingtons and was gutted internally leaving it in the rather drab state it is seen in today.

The beautiful auditorium was destroyed as was the ornate frontage, simply replaced with a huge glass sheet. The theatre has remained open ever since and is today a very popular venue with top class touring acts and of course, the annual Pantomime. The front of the theatre was refurbished in 2001, however the inside of the theatre still remains a grey painted reminder of a catastrophic decision in the 1960s which destroyed a masterpiece of theatre architecture.

Chartered Surveyors St. Helens Merseyside

Chartered Surveyors Northampton Northamptonshire

Approximate Population: 189,474

Northampton’s oldest standing building, the Church of The Holy Sepulchre, is one of the largest and best-preserved round churches in England. It was built in 1100 on the orders of the first Earl of Northampton, Simon de Senlis, who had just returned from the first Crusade. It is based on a plan of the original Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem.

The current All Saints’ Church was built on the site of a great Norman church, All Hallows, which was almost completely destroyed by the Fire of Northampton in 1675. All that remained was the medieval tower and the fine vaulted crypt, but by 1680 All Saints had been rebuilt, with the help of donations from all over England, including 1,000 tons of timber from King Charles II, whose statue can be seen above the portico. Famously, the poet John Clare liked to sit beneath the portico of the church.

The Guildhall in Northampton was constructed mostly in the 1860s in Victorian Gothic architecture, and extended in the 1990s. It is built on the site of the old town hall.

The 127.45 m (418 ft 1.7 in) tall Express Lift Tower is a dominant feature in the area. Terry Wogan conducted a radio phone-in during the 1980s to come up with a name for it: “Northampton Lighthouse” was suggested as Northampton is one of the furthest places from the sea. It is also known as the “Cobblers’ Needle”. It was built to facilitate the testing of new lifts at the Express Lifts factory. It is visible from most of the town, but is now redundant. The tower has however been listed as being of architectural importance in the town.

Northampton Castle (now only remaining as a rebuilt postern gate in a wall outside the railway station and the hill on which it stood) was for many years one of the country’s most important castles. The country’s parliament sat here many times and Thomas Becket was imprisoned here until he escaped.

Chartered Surveyors Northampton Northamptonshire

Chartered Surveyors Plymouth Devon

Approximate Population: 250,700

Plymouth, Devon, lies between the River Plym to the east and the River Tamar to the west; both rivers flow into the natural harbour of Plymouth Sound.  Since 1967, the unitary authority of Plymouth has included the, once independent, towns of Plympton and Plymstock which lie along the east of the River Plym. The River Tamar forms the county boundary between Devon and Cornwall and its estuary forms the Hamoaze on which is sited Devonport Dockyard. The River Plym, which flows off Dartmoor to the north east, forms a smaller estuary to the east of the city called Cattewater.

Plymouth Sound is protected from the sea by the Plymouth Breakwater, in use since 1814. In the Sound is Drake’s Island which is seen from Plymouth Hoe, a flat public area on top of limestone cliffs. The Unitary Authority of Plymouth is 30.8 square miles (79.78 km²), but the city of Plymouth, as cited from Plymouth City Council, is 30.61 square miles (79.29 km²). The topography rises from sea level to a height, at Roborough, of about 509 feet (155 m) above Ordnance Datum (AOD).

Geologically, Plymouth has a mixture of limestone, Devonian slate, granite and Middle Devonian limestone. Plymouth Sound, Shores and Cliffs is a Site of Special Scientific Interest, because of its geology.  The bulk of the city is built upon Upper Devonian slates and shales and the headlands at the entrance to Plymouth Sound are formed of Lower Devonian slates, which can withstand the power of the sea.  A band of Middle Devonian limestone runs west to east from Cremyll to Plymstock including the Hoe.

Local limestone may be seen in numerous buildings, walls and pavements throughout Plymouth. To the north and north east of the city is the granite mass of Dartmoor; the granite was mined and exported via Plymouth. Rocks brought down the Tamar from Dartmoor include ores containing tin, copper, tungsten, lead and other minerals. There is evidence that the middle Devonian limestone belt at the south edge of Plymouth and in Plymstock was quarried at West Hoe, Cattedown and Radford.

Chartered Surveyors Plymouth Devon

Chartered Surveyors Oldham Greater Manchester

Approximate Population: 103,544

Lying within the historic county boundaries of Lancashire since the early 12th century, Oldham, Greater Manchester, was recorded in 1212 as being one of five parts of the thegnage estate of Kaskenmoor, which was held on behalf of King John by Roger de Montbegon and William de Nevill. The other parts of this estate were Crompton, Glodwick, Sholver, and Werneth.  Oldham later formed a township within the ancient ecclesiastical parish of Prestwich-cum-Oldham, in the hundred of Salford.

In 1826 commissioners for the social and economic improvement of Oldham were established. The town was made part of a parliamentary borough, in 1832, though it was in 1849 when Oldham was incorporated as a municipal borough, giving it borough status in the United Kingdom, and in 1850 the Borough Council obtained the powers of the improvement commissioners.

In 1880, parts of the Hollinwood and Crossbank areas of Chadderton and Ashton-under-Lyne townships were added to the Borough of Oldham. Oldham Above Town and Oldham Below Town were, from 1851 until c.1881, statistical units used for the gathering and organising of civil registration information, and output of census data.

When the administrative county of Lancashire was created by the Local Government Act 1888, Oldham was elevated to become the County Borough of Oldham and was effectively a unitary authority area exempt from the administration of Lancashire County Council.  In 1951 parts of the Limehurst Rural District were added to the County Borough of Oldham, and in 1954 further parts of the same district added to it. Since 1961, Oldham has been twinned with Kranj in Slovenia.  Under the Local Government Act 1972, the town’s autonomous County borough status was abolished, and Oldham has, since 1 April 1974, formed part of the Metropolitan Borough of Oldham, within the Metropolitan county of Greater Manchester.

Chartered Surveyors Oldham Greater Manchester

Chartered Surveyors Dudley West Midlands

Approximate Population: 194,919

Dudley, West Midlands, has a history dating back to medieval times.  Dudley Castle has stood on a hill overlooking the town since the 11th century, and is mentioned in the Domesday Book.  The present castle dates from the 13th century, and provided the centre around which the town grew. The oldest condoms found (rather than just pictures or descriptions) were discovered in Dudley Castle and date from 1640. Dating from the 12th century are the ruins of St James Priory, set within the Priory Park.

The town industrialised rapidly in the 18th and 19th centuries, and its population grew dramatically. Due to its heavy and highly polluting industries it became a central part of the Black Country. The main industries in Dudley included coal and limestone mining.  Other industries included iron, steel, engineering, metallurgy, glass cutting, textiles and leatherworking. Most of these industries have declined in recent decades.

Dudley was mostly made up of farms and factories surrounded by the occasional cottage until the 19th century, when many rows of terraced houses with terrible sanitation were built[citation needed] These in turn were cleared between the 1920s and 1960s to make way for council owned houses and flats. The Dudley area also consists of many privately owned houses including some late 19th/early 20th century homes which are still standing but have been modernised to keep up with modern sanitation standards.

The first major council housing development was the Priory Estate, where more than 2,000 houses were built between 1929 and 1939.  The Wrens Nest Estate followed soon afterwards. It stands in the shadow of Wrens Nest Hill, where many Silurian fossils can be found including crinoids, corals and trilobites.

Chartered Surveyors Dudley West Midlands