“Homes fit for heroes” was prime minister David Lloyd George’s bold promise to the servicemen returning from the First World War.

The UK’s cash-strapped post war situation meant that fewer than half of the 500,000 new council houses promised by the Welsh Wizard were ever delivered. Nevertheless, the government’s housing push left an important legacy, implementing the first set of design standards for council housing. These benchmarks were codified by the Housing and Town Planning Act, which was passed in the following year. They were later replaced by the post-war Parker Morris standards, which set out the minimum space for council homes until they were discarded in 1980 by Margaret Thatcher’s Conservative government.

A whole century later and the Town and Country Planning Association (TCPA) has decided that the time is ripe to revisit the landmark legislation that laid down the framework for the classic inter-war three-bedroom council houses, which boasted front and back gardens together with access public green space and other communal facilities.

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