b'Local Authorities had been required by law toA generation was introduced to the joys of indoor provide council houses in 1919. Prime Ministertoilets, front and rear gardens, landscaped housing Lloyd George ran a campaign Homes fit forestates where town planners would boast that a tree Heroes sparked concerns over the poor physicalcould be seen from every window. But the Post War condition of army recruits, but it was not untildream of urban renewal quickly turned sour as by the after WW11 that the age of the council houseearly 1970s the concrete walkways and streets in thetruly arrived.sky that had once seemed so pristine and futuristicwere becoming grim havens of decay, violenceUnder the Post War Labour Government more than aand lawlessness.million homes were built, 80% of which were council houses to replace those destroyed by the Germans.There was a powerful smell of corruption emanating from town halls as the relationship between local 80% of which were councilpoliticians and their friends in building and architecture was laid bare along with the shoddy standard of manyhouses to replace thoseof the system-built houses they had created.destroyed by the Germans.It was against this backdrop that rights to buy began to be successful with a number of council houses sold in The home building boom continued when theEngland going up from 7,000 in 1970 to nearly 46,000 Conservatives returned to power in 1951, but thein 1972. Prime Minister Lloyd Georgeemphasis shifted at the end of the decade towards slum clearance as millions were uprooted from the cramped7,000 in 1970 to run down inner city terraces and re-housed in purposenearly 46,000 in 1972.built new towns or high rise flat blocks.'