| AdminHistory | The first Public Works Committee was constituted in November 1851, and was to take over many of the duties that the Street Commissioners had prior to the passing of the Borough Improvement Act of 1851. The committee was appointed to superintend the making and replacing of all sewers and drains and the pollution of steams, the paving, flagging, widening and proper maintenance of streets, roads, highways and footways, and the watering and lighting of the streets and roads'. Further, the committee was to 'fix the situation of the stands for public carriages' and were to remove and suppress of all 'nuisances', including refuse. Over time, the remit would cover road and bridge construction, and diversions, as well as the administration of building bye-laws and the erection of municipal housing.
The committee was also expected to have charge of the contracts for such work, audit their accounts and to appoint and manage the workforce of the department. Indeed, the first task of the committee was to appoint a Borough Surveyor, an Assistant Surveyor, an Inspector of Nuisances and later, with increasing accountability through building bye-laws, an Inspector of Buildings and a Clerk of Works for Drainage. The committee’s original remit was very extensive, and the story of the committee is one of the transfer and reintegration of functions with other and new committees, which was perhaps as a result of the influx of further responsibility caused by a wave of local and national legislation.
Firstly, there was the extension of powers under the Birmingham Corporation Consolidation Act of 1883 which, amongst other things, allowed the Corporation to make repairs to private roads and sewers in the public interest. Then, there was the continuing extension of the city boundaries, such as in 1891, 1909 and, particularly in 1911, with the Greater Birmingham Extension Bill. Further, the 1870 Tramways Act allowed the Corporation to become more involved in omnibus and tramway development. Under the Public Health Act of 1872 and subsequent Acts, the Corporation became increasing responsible for the provision for sewerage, drainage and general sanitation. Under the Artisans and Labourers’ Dwellings Improvement Act, 1875 and the Working Class Acts of 1890 - 1909, whole swathes of central Birmingham were demolished for building development and the Birmingham Improvement Scheme and, finally under various specific Acts, the Corporation took-over utility plant and service supply for gas, water and electricity.
The Public Works Department was organised into four districts, North (based at Shadwell Street), South (based at Holliday Street), East and West, with each district having a foreman and 20 workmen, each operating from its own yard. A separate Sewer Department was also established, consisting of a foreman and six workmen, as was a Flagging and Paving Department, with eight masons, labourers and pavers, a Survey Department, the Night Soil Department, which emptied cess pits. In 1852, the Nuisance Department was established, the committee of which consisted of members drawn from the Public Works, Watch and Markets and Fairs Committees.
In 1911, the functions of street lighting and refuse were transferred to the newly formed Lighting, Stables and Refuse Committee (see BCC/1/BP). In 1919, the committee merged with the Town Planning Committee, to form the Public Works and Town Planning Committee. The Town Planning Committee had been formed in 1911, after an initial year as a sub-committee of the General Purpose Committee. Their original function was to look at two planning schemes, one for Quinton, which had come a part of Birmingham in 1909, the other, Batchelor’s Farm, located in East Birmingham. Schemes followed for North Yardley, Castle Bromwich (Bromford and Hodge Hill) and Stechford. The committee was to investigate schemes for town planning which incorporated good road layout and the provision of new schools, baths, allotments, parks, shops, houses and other facilities.
In June 1917, the Public Health and Housing Committee were de-merged and the housing duties instead attached to the Town Planning Committee, to form the Housing and Town Planning Committee, in accordance with the Housing of the Working Class Acts 1890 - 1909 and the Housing and Town Planning Act, 1909. The Committee were now also charged to investigate the provision of houses for the working class. In November 1919, the two elements were again de-merged, with Town Planning being afterward merged with the Public Works Committee and Housing being merged with the Estates Department, though in 1922, the contracting, design and erection of municipal housing was transferred back to the Public Works Committee.
The new committee took on the roles of both the Public Works and the Town Planning Committees, with further responsibility for the control of the public buildings (maintenance, heating, lighting, decorating), previously a part of the Estates Committee remit and received back the function of public lighting from the Stables and Salvage Committee. There were three main departments, the Public Works, the Street Lighting and the Town Planning Department.
The Public Works Department was now partitioned into three, with an Eastern, Western and Central Division, with each division having two districts. Each District has a Surveyor, Road Superintendent, Sewer Inspector and workmen under a Foreman. There were eight sub-Departments of the Public Works Department, which were; Road Surveyors Department, Sewers and Rivers Department, Drawing Office and Surveyor’s Department, Secretarial Department, Accounts Department, Mechanical Department, Building Surveyor and Factory Inspector’s Department, the Wheelwright's Department and the Miscellaneous Department.
After the Road Traffic Act of 1934, the committee became responsible for the provision of pedestrian crossings in the Borough and for signing the new 30mph speed limit that was imposed in built up areas. In December 1937, the committee changed its name to the Public Works Committee, though the town planning function remained and the minute sequence continued. During World War Two, the committee faced extensive works repairing war-damaged sites, but the comprehensive reconstruction of Britain during the immediate post-war period was already being planned by the Government as early as 1943.
In 1947 the Town and Country Planning Act was published, providing the first comprehensive basis for the control of development and land uses in this country and was administered by the Public Works Committee. Before 1947 the use of land and development was largely uncontrolled, although some limitations were exercised through Public Health and local Acts. The 1947 Act introduced a comprehensive system for the control of development and since then (with some specific exceptions) no land owner has been entitled to carry out any development without first obtaining the necessary planning permission.
In September 1950, the Council created two new committees, the Housing Management Committee and the House Building Committee. The housing function of the Public Works Committee was transferred to the House Building Committee, though the Public Works Committee did have representatives on the new House Building Committee. By 1974, the main functions of the Committee were road improvements, pedestrian safety and traffic control, street signing and lighting, public buildings, planning permissions and building bye-laws, drainage and sewerage and town planning and redevelopment. |