District and Borough
The urban district council was originally based in rooms above a shop in Cranbrook Road, meeting in a rented schoolroom in Ilford Hall from 1898. The building of Ilford Town Hall began in 1901, completed at a cost of about £30,000. This was designed by B. Woollard in an ornate Renaissance style; it was enlarged in 1927 and 1933.
Successive acts provided the council with increased powers and they used these to embark on an expansion of public services, providing sewerage, public baths, an isolation hospital, a fire station, an electricity and tramway undertaking, and several public parks – including Valentine's Park, opened as Central Park in 1898. In 1904, the council also took over the responsibilities of the school board.
In 1926, the urban district was incorporated as a municipal borough. The borough ran its own tram services until they became the responsibility of the London Passenger Transport Board in 1933.
A move was mooted in 1929 to combine Ilford with Barking and Dagenham (the three districts to contain parts of the Becontree estate), but it was not acted upon.
On five occasions Ilford Corporation unsuccessfully promoted private bills in parliament to attain county borough status and become independent of Essex County Council. The final attempt was in 1954, when the borough had a population of approximately 184,000, larger than neighbouring East Ham and the second largest non-county borough in England.
In 1914, the parish of Barking was transferred from the Diocese of St Albans to a new Diocese of Chelmsford, reflecting the increase in population to the east of London.
Read more about this topic: Municipal Borough Of Ilford
Famous quotes containing the word district:
“Most works of art, like most wines, ought to be consumed in the district of their fabrication.”
—Rebecca West (1892–1983)