Hatfield Town Centre has reopened four weeks after lockdown. Picture: Charlotte McLaughlin
- Credit: Archant
When considering the original post-war redevelopment plan, the MP for Hitchin declared that Hatfield was one of those half-baked places that grew up without any centre or any plan at all .
Philip Asterley Jones was contrasting the development of the town to the Garden Cities of Letchworth and Welwyn Garden City while the New Towns Act of 1946 was being read.
He was not alone in this sentiment, with Scottish MP Gilbert McAllister calling it a shocking development at Hatfield .
Hatfield subsequently became the ninth New Town, although it was not actually designated until May 1948, and in the 1960s the Commission for New Towns finally set about making areas of England a pleasant land .