Corporation of London

The improvement of the streets, the location of trades, markets and common or open spaces and the regulation of buildings have always been within the purview of the Corporation of London and the Court of Commissioners of Sewers in particular. After the Great Fire an Act of Common Council of 1667 declared what streets were to be widened and to what proportions. Improvement Committees were appointed by the Common Council throughout the nineteenth century and the construction of Holborn Viaduct, King William Street, Cannon Street, Tower Bridge, Charterhouse Street, Princes Street, Moorgate, St Martins-le-Grand and numerous street widenings constituted a gradual replanning. Towards the end of the nineteenth century the City cooperated with the Metropolitan Board of Works and later with the London County Council in improvements such as the Victoria Embankment and Queen Victoria Street.

In 1932 the Corporation was constituted the authority in the City of London for implementing the provisions of the Town and Country Planning Acts. A town planning scheme was prepared but the outbreak of war in 1939 delayed the continuation of the plan. The extensive damage caused by enemy action during the Second World War facilitated more ambitious schemes, under the direction of the Improvements and Town Planning Committee who managed the Town Planning Department. The post-war plan aimed to improve office and warehouse buildings, improve traffic flows, preserve and improve sites of historic and architectural importance, provide more open space and pedestrian circulation and to improve car parking provision.

The Planning Department is now the Department of Planning and Transportation.