Borough of Crawley
—  Borough  —
Queen's Square, a large pedestrianised shopping area in the town centre
Official logo of Borough of Crawley Coat of Arms of the Borough Council
Motto: "I Grow and I Rejoice"
Crawley shown within West Sussex
Coordinates: 51°6′33″N 0°11′14″W / 51.10917°N 0.18722°W / 51.10917; -0.18722Coordinates: 51°6′33″N 0°11′14″W / 51.10917°N 0.18722°W / 51.10917; -0.18722
Sovereign state	United Kingdom
Constituent country	England
Region	South East England
Ceremonial county	West Sussex
Admin HQ	Crawley
Founded	5th century
Borough status	1974
Government
• Type	Borough
• Governing body	Crawley Borough Council
• MP:	Henry Smith (C)
Area
• Total	17.36 sq mi (44.96 km2)
Population (2010 est.)
• Total	107,600 (Ranked 210th)
• Density	5,750/sq mi (2,221/km2)
• Ethnicity (United Kingdom2006 estimate)	84.7% White 9.8% S.Asian 2.4% Black British 1.1% Chinese or other 2.0% Mixed Race
Time zone	Greenwich Mean Time (UTC+0)
Postcode	RH6 and RH10-11
Area code(s)	01293
ISO 3166-2	GB-WSX (West Sussex)
ONS code	45UE
OS grid reference	TQ268360
NUTS 3	UKJ24
Website	www.crawley.gov.uk

Crawley ( pronunciation (help·info)) is a town and local government district with Borough status in West Sussex, England. It is 28 miles (45 km) south of Charing Cross, 18 miles (29 km) north of Brighton and Hove, and 32 miles (51 km) northeast of the county town of Chichester, covers an area of 17.36 square miles (44.96 km²) and had a population of 99,744 at the time of the 2001 Census.

The area has been inhabited since the Stone Age,^[1] and was a centre of ironworking in Roman times. Crawley developed slowly as a market town from the 13th century, serving the surrounding villages in the Weald; its location on the main road from London to Brighton brought a passing trade, encouraging the development of coaching inns. It was connected to the railway network in the 1840s.

Gatwick Airport, now one of Britain's busiest international airports, opened on the edge of the town in the 1940s, encouraging commercial and industrial growth. After the Second World War, the British Government planned to move large numbers of people and jobs out of London and into new towns around South East England. The New Towns Act 1946 designated Crawley as the site of one of these.^[2] A master plan was developed for the establishment of new residential, commercial, industrial and civic areas, and rapid development greatly increased the size and population of the town in a few decades.

The town comprises 13 residential neighbourhoods based around the core of the old market town, and separated by main roads and railway lines. The nearby communities of Ifield, Pound Hill and Three Bridges were absorbed into the new town at different stages of its development. As of 2009, expansion is planned in the west and northwest of the town, in co-operation with Horsham District Council.^[3] Economically, the town has developed into the main centre of industry and employment between London and the south coast of England. A large industrial area supports industries and services, many of which are connected with the airport, and the commercial and retail sectors continue to expand.^[2]

History[link]

Origins[link]

The area may have been settled during the Mesolithic period: locally manufactured flints of the Horsham Culture type have been found to the southwest of the town.^[1] Tools and burial mounds from the Neolithic period, and burial mounds and a sword from the Bronze Age, have also been discovered.^[4][5] Crawley is on the western edge of the High Weald, which produced iron for more than 2,000 years from the Iron Age onwards.^[6] Goffs Park—now a recreational area in the south of the town—was the site of two late Iron Age furnaces.^[7] Ironworking and mineral extraction continued throughout Roman times, particularly in the Broadfield area where many furnaces were built.^[4][8]

In the 5th century, Saxon settlers named the area Crow's Leah—meaning a crow-infested clearing, or Crow's Wood.^[9] This name evolved over time, and the present spelling appeared by the early 14th century.^[4] By this time, nearby settlements were more established: the Saxon church at Worth, for example, dates from between 950 and 1050 AD.^[10]

St John the Baptist's Church from the southeast

Although Crawley itself is not mentioned in the Domesday Book of 1086,^[11] the nearby settlements of Ifield and Worth are recorded.^[12] The first written record of Crawley dates from 1202, when a licence was issued by King John for a weekly market on Wednesdays.^[13] Crawley grew slowly in importance over the next few centuries, but was boosted in the 18th century by the construction of the turnpike road between London and Brighton. When this was completed in 1770, travel between the newly fashionable seaside resort and London became safer and quicker, and Crawley (located approximately halfway between the two) prospered as a coaching halt.^[14]

By 1839 it offered almost an hourly service to both destinations.^[15][16] The George, a timber-framed house dating from the 15th century, expanded to become a large coaching inn, taking over adjacent buildings. Eventually an annexe had to be built in the middle of the wide High Street; this survived until the 1930s.^[17] The original building has become the George Hotel, with conference facilities and 84 bedrooms; it retains many period features including an iron fireback.^[18][19]

Crawley's oldest church is St John the Baptist's, between the High Street and the Broadway. It is said to have 13th century origins,^[20] but there has been much rebuilding (especially in the 19th century) and the oldest part remaining is the south wall of the nave, which is believed to be 14th century. The church has a 15th-century tower (rebuilt in 1804) which originally contained four bells cast in 1724. Two were replaced by Thomas Lester of London in 1742; but in 1880 a new set of eight bells were cast and installed by the Croydon-based firm Gillett, Bland & Company.^[21][22][23]

Railway age and Victorian era[link]

Ordnance Survey map of the Crawley area, 1932

The Brighton Main Line was the first railway line to serve the Crawley area. A station was opened at Three Bridges (originally known as East Crawley)^[24] in the summer of 1841. Crawley railway station, at the southern end of the High Street, was built in 1848 when the Horsham branch was opened from Three Bridges to Horsham. A line was built eastwards from Three Bridges to East Grinstead in 1855. Three Bridges had become the hub of transport in the area by this stage: one-quarter of its population was employed in railway jobs by 1861 (mainly at the London, Brighton and South Coast Railway's railway works near the station).^[25] The Longley company—one of South East England's largest building firms in the late 19th century, responsible for buildings including Christ's Hospital school and the King Edward VII Sanatorium in Midhurst—moved to a site next to Crawley station in 1881.^[26] In 1898 more than 700 people were employed at the site.^[27]

There was a major expansion in housebuilding in the late 19th century. An area known as "New Town" (unrelated to the postwar developments) was created around the railway level crossing and down the Brighton Road;^[25][28] the West Green area, west of the High Street on the way to Ifield, was built up; and housing spread south of the Horsham line for the first time, into what is now Southgate. The population reached 4,433 in 1901, compared to 1,357 a century earlier.^[29] In 1891, a racecourse was opened on farmland at Gatwick. Built to replace a steeplechase course at Waddon near Croydon in Surrey, it was used for both steeplechase and flat racing, and held the Grand National during the years of the First World War.^[4] The course had its own railway station on the Brighton Main Line.^[30]

In the early 20th century, many of the large country estates in the area, with their mansions and associated grounds and outbuildings, were split up into smaller plots of land, attracting haphazard housing development and small farms.^[31] By the outbreak of the First World War in 1914 Crawley had grown into a small but prosperous town, serving a wide rural area and those passing through on the A23 London–Brighton road. Three-quarters of the population had piped water supplies, all businesses and homes had electricity, and piped gas and street lighting had been in place for 50 years.^[25] An airfield was opened in 1930 on land near the racecourse. This was a private concern until the Second World War when it was claimed by the Royal Air Force.^[4]

New Town[link]

The Boulevard, a main east–west road separating the civic and retail areas of Crawley

In May 1946, the New Towns Act of 1946 identified Crawley as a suitable location for a New Town;^[2] but it was not officially designated as such until 9 January 1947.^[32] The 5,920 acres (2,396 ha) of land set aside for the new town were split across the county borders between East Sussex, West Sussex and Surrey. Architect Thomas Bennett was appointed chairman of Crawley Development Corporation. A court challenge to the designation order meant that plans were not officially confirmed until December 1947. By this time, an initial plan for the development of the area had been drawn up by Anthony Minoprio.^[33] This proposed filling in the gaps between the villages of Crawley, Ifield and Three Bridges.^[34] Bennett estimated that planning, designing and building the town, and increasing its population from the existing 9,500 to 40,000, would take 15 years.^[35]

Work began almost immediately to prepare for the expansion of the town. A full master plan was in place by 1949. This envisaged an increase in the population of the town to 50,000, residential properties in nine neighbourhoods radiating from the town centre, and a separate industrial area to the north.^[33] The neighbourhoods would consist mainly of three-bedroom family homes, with a number of smaller and larger properties. Each would be built around a centre with shops, a church, a public house, a primary school and a community centre.^[34] Secondary education was to be provided at campuses at Ifield Green, Three Bridges and Tilgate.^[36] Later, a fourth campus, in Southgate, was added to the plans.^[37]

At first, little development took place in the town centre, and residents relied on the shops and services in the existing high street. The earliest progress was in West Green, where new residents moved in during the late 1940s. In 1950 the town was visited by the then heir to the throne, Princess Elizabeth, when she officially opened the Manor Royal industrial area. Building work continued throughout the 1950s in West Green, Northgate and Three Bridges, and later in Langley Green, Pound Hill and Ifield. In 1956, land at "Tilgate East" was allocated for housing use, eventually becoming the new neighbourhood of Furnace Green.^[33]

Woodfield Road, a residential road in the Northgate neighbourhood

Expectations of the eventual population of the town were revised upwards several times. The 1949 master plan had allowed for 50,000 people, but this was amended to 55,000 in 1956 after the Development Corporation had successfully resisted pressure from the Minister for Town and Country Planning to accommodate 60,000. Nevertheless, plans dated 1961 anticipated growth to 70,000 by 1980, and by 1969 consideration was given to an eventual expansion of up to 120,000.^[33]

Extended shopping facilities to the east of the existing high street were provided. The first stage to open was The Broadwalk in 1954, following by the opening of the Queen's Square development by Her Majesty The Queen in 1958. Crawley railway station was moved eastwards towards the new development.^[33]

By April 1960, when Thomas Bennett made his last presentation as chairman of the Development Corporation, the town's population had reached 51,700; 2,289,000 square feet (212,700 m²) of factory and other industrial space had been provided; 21,800 people were employed, nearly 60% of whom worked in manufacturing industry; and only seventy people were registered as unemployed. The corporation had built 10,254 houses, and private builders provided around 1,500 more. Tenants were by then permitted to buy their houses, and 440 householders had chosen to do so by April 1960.^[35]

One of the neighbourhood churches: St Mary's in Southgate

A new plan was put forward by West Sussex County Council in 1961. This proposed new neighbourhoods at Broadfield and Bewbush, both of which extended outside the administrative area of the then Urban District Council. Detailed plans were made for Broadfield in the late 1960s; by the early 1970s building work had begun. Further expansion at Bewbush was begun in 1974, although development there was slow. The two neighbourhoods were both larger than the original nine: together, their proposed population was 23,000. Work also took place in the area now known as Ifield West on the western fringes of the town.^[38]

By 1980, the council identified land at Maidenbower, south of the Pound Hill neighbourhood, as being suitable for another new neighbourhood, and work began in 1986. However, all of this development was undertaken privately, unlike the earlier neighbourhoods in which most of the housing was owned by the council.^[38]

In 1999, plans were announced to develop a 14th neighbourhood on land at Tinsley Green to the northeast of the town. However, these were halted when proposals for possible expansion at Gatwick Airport were announced.^[39] As of 2008, discussions are underway with Horsham District Council concerning the possible future provision of new housing on Crawley's western fringes; much of the land proposed for development currently lies within Horsham's administrative boundaries.^[3]

Governance[link]

Local government[link]

Borough of Crawley shown within West Sussex

Crawley Town Hall, on The Boulevard in the town centre

Crawley Urban District Council was formed in May 1956 from the part of the Horsham Rural District which covered the new town.^[40] The Local Government Act 1972 led to the district being reformed as a borough in April 1974,^[41] gaining a mayor for the first time.^[42]

The Urban District Council received its coat of arms from the College of Heralds in 1957. After the change to borough status a modified coat of arms, based on the original, was awarded in 1976, and presented to the council on 24 March 1977. It features a central cross on a shield, representing the town's location at the meeting point of north–south and east–west roads. The shield bears nine martlets representing both the county of Sussex and the new town's original nine neighbourhoods. Supporters, of an eagle and a winged lion, relate to the significance of the airport to the locality. The motto featured is I Grow and I Rejoice—a translation of a phrase from the Epistulae of Seneca the Younger.^[41]

Initially the district (and then borough) council worked with the Commission for New Towns on many aspects of development; but in 1978 many of the commission's assets, such as housing and parks, were surrendered to the council. The authority's boundaries were extended in 1983 to accommodate the Bewbush and Broadfield neighbourhoods.^[43]

The borough remains part of the local two-tier arrangements, with services shared with West Sussex County Council. The authority is divided into 15 wards, each of which is represented by two or three local councillors, forming a total council of 37 members. Most wards are coterminous with the borough's neighbourhoods, but two neighbourhoods are divided: Broadfield into North and South wards, and Pound Hill into "Pound Hill North" and "Pound Hill South and Worth". The council is elected in thirds.^[44]

As of the 2012 local elections, the authority is Conservative-controlled, with seats allocated as follows:

The party gained control in May 2006 for the first time since the borough was created. Previously the authority had always been Labour controlled.^[45]

United Kingdom government[link]

Crawley Borough is coterminous with the parliamentary constituency of Crawley. Henry Smith won the seat at the 2010 general election. Laura Moffatt, a member of the Labour Party was the MP for Crawley from 1997-2010 she was the Parliamentary Private Secretary to the Secretary of State for Health, Alan Johnson.^[46][47] In the 2005 General Election, the winning margin was the slimmest of any UK constituency: Laura Moffatt won by just 37 votes.^[48]

Brook House and Tinsley House Immigration Removal Centres, operated by the UK Border Agency, are within the grounds of London Gatwick Airport in Crawley.^[49][50]

Data from the Home Office's national identity database at Doncaster, South Yorkshire, was backed up to servers in Crawley for disaster recovery and business continuity purposes. The Identity Documents Bill 2010, proposed in May 2010 and passed in September 2010, authorised the destruction of all data stored for the identity card scheme brought about by the Identity Cards Act 2006.^[51]

Geography[link]

At 51°6′33″N 0°11′14″W / 51.10917°N 0.18722°W / 51.10917; -0.18722 (51.1092, -0.1872), Crawley is in the northeastern corner of West Sussex in South East England, 28 miles (45 km) south of London and 18 miles (29 km) north of Brighton and Hove. It is surrounded by smaller towns including Horley, Redhill, Reigate, Dorking, Horsham, Haywards Heath and East Grinstead.^[52][53] The borough of Crawley is bordered by the West Sussex local authority areas of Mid Sussex and Horsham districts, and the Mole Valley and Tandridge districts and the Borough of Reigate and Banstead in the county of Surrey.^[54][55]

Crawley lies in the Weald between the North and South Downs. Two beds of sedimentary rock meet beneath the town: the eastern neighbourhoods and the town centre lie largely on the sandstone Hastings Beds, while the rest of the town is based on Weald Clay.^[56][57] A geological fault running from east to west has left an area of Weald Clay (with a ridge of limestone) jutting into the Hastings Beds around Tilgate.^[57] The town has no major waterways, although a number of smaller brooks and streams are tributaries for the River Mole which rises near Gatwick Airport and flows northwards to the River Thames near Hampton Court Palace. There are several lakes at Tilgate Park and a mill pond at Ifield which was stopped to feed the Ifield Water Mill.^[58]

In 1822 Gideon Mantell, an amateur fossil collector and palaeontologist, discovered teeth, bones and other remains of what he described as "an animal of the lizard tribe of enormous magnitude", in Tilgate Forest on the edge of Crawley. He announced his discovery in an 1825 scientific paper, giving the creature the name Iguanodon.^[59] In 1832 he discovered and named the Hylaeosaurus genus of dinosaurs after finding a fossil in the same forest.^[60]

Climate[link]

Crawley lies within the Sussex weald, an area of highly variable terrain, meaning many microclimates of frost hollows, sun traps and windswept hilltops will be encountered over a short distance. During calm, clear periods of weather this allows for some interesting temperature variances, although during the majority of the time, when mobile westerly airstreams persist, the weather is typically maritime as with the rest of the British Isles. Gatwick is the nearest weather station that offers long term means to give an accurate description of the climate of the Crawley area, although more recently the Metoffice weather station at adjacent Charlwood offers data also. Both weather stations are about 3 miles north of Crawley town centre and at similar altitudes.

Generally, Crawley's inland and southerly position within the UK means temperatures in summer are amongst the highest in the British Isles, Charlwood recording 36.3c (97.3f)^[61] and Gatwick recording 36.4c (97.5f)^[62] on 19 July 2006, just 0.2c and 0.1c lower, respectively, than the UK Monthly record for that day set at Wisley, 20 miles to the west. The absolute maximum stands at 36.5c(97.7f)^[63] at Charlwood, set on 10 August 2003. The absolute record for Gatwick is the aforementioned 36.4c. Before this, the highest temperature recorded at Gatwick was 35.6c(96.1f), also in August 2003.^[64] The maximum temperature will be 25.1c(77.2f) or higher on 15.9 days of the year^[65] on average (1971-00) and the warmest day will typically rise to 29.4c (84.9f).^[66]

The abolute minimum for Gatwick Airport for the period 1960-onwards is -16.7c(1.9f), set during January 1963. More Recently, Charlwood fell to -11.2c(11.8f)^[67] and Gatwick -11.1c(12.0f)^[68] on 20 December 2010. Typically the coldest night at Gatwick will fall to -8.9c(16.0f).^[69] Air frost is recorded on 58.2 nights at Gatwick^[70] (1971-00)

Sunshine totals are higher than many inland areas due to the southerly location of Crawley, Gatwick averaging 1574hrs over the 1961-90 period. No data is available for the 1971-00 period, but given increases at comparable sites nearby, annual averages are likely to be in excess of 1600hrs.

Snowfall is often heavier in the Sussex weald area than many other low lying parts of central and southern England due to the proximity of moisture laden southerly tracking low pressure systems bringing easterly winds and much snow to areas of South London southwards. However, again due to the southerly location of the area, with warmer air from the English channel close by, the snow is often transient as low pressure systems track north bringing in milder air, and rarely last long, with areas immediately north of the London area tending to have less accumulation, but lying for a longer duration.

Rainfall is lower than the English average, but higher than many other areas of the South East. 1mm of rain or more falls on 116.7 days of the year.^[71]

Neighbourhoods and areas[link]

The Southgate neighbourhood's parade of shops

Each neighbourhood has colour-coded street name signs (Southgate example pictured).

Neighbourhoods of Crawley, identified in the table

Church Road in Lowfield Heath village, looking east towards St Michael and All Angels Church. No houses remain here; a hotel, depots and light industrial units have replaced the earlier development.

There are 13 residential neighbourhoods,^[74] each with a variety of housing types: terraced, semi-detached and detached houses, low-rise flats and bungalows. There are no residential tower blocks, apart from the 8 storey Milton Mount Flats at the North end of Pound Hill.^[75] Many houses have their own gardens and are set back from roads. Each neighbourhood is based around a shopping parade, community centre and church, and has a school and recreational open spaces.^[38] Crawley Development Corporation's intention was for neighbourhood shops to cater only to basic needs, and for the town centre to be used for most shopping requirements. The number of shop units provided in the neighbourhood parades reflected this: despite the master plan making provision for at least 20 shops in each neighbourhood,^[76] the number actually built ranged from 19 in the outlying Langley Green neighbourhood to just seven in West Green, close to the town centre.^[35]

Each of the 13 residential neighbourhoods is identified by a colour, which is shown on street name signs in a standard format throughout the town: below the street name, the neighbourhood name is shown in white text on a coloured background.^[77]

There are areas which are not defined as neighbourhoods but which are closely associated with Crawley:

• The Manor Royal industrial estate is in the north of the town. Although it is part of the Northgate ward, it is allocated a colour: its street name signs feature the word "Industrial" on a black background.
• Crawley's town centre is in the southernmost part of Northgate. Its street name signs do not follow the standard format of the neighbourhood signs, but display only the street name.
• Gatwick Airport was built on the site of a manor house, Gatwick Manor, close to the village of Lowfield Heath. Most of the village was demolished when the airport expanded, but the Grade II*-listed St Michael and All Angels Church,^[79] remains. The site of Lowfield Heath village, now occupied by warehouses and light industrial units,^[80] is on the airport's southern boundary, between the perimeter road and the A23 close to Manor Royal.
• Worth was originally a village with its own civil parish, lying just beyond the eastern edge of the Crawley urban area and borough boundary;^[81] but development of the Pound Hill and Maidenbower neighbourhoods has filled in the gaps, and the borough boundary has been extended to include the whole of the village. The civil parish of Worth remains, albeit reduced in size, as part of the Mid Sussex district.
• Tinsley Green, a hamlet in Worth parish,^[82] is now within the Pound Hill neighbourhood. Its houses, farms and public house, the Greyhound (at which the British and World Marbles Championship has been held annually since 1932),^[83] lie on or around an east–west minor road running from the main Balcombe–Horley road to the Manor Royal estate. A proposal to build a fourteenth neighbourhood in the area was first made in January 1998, and in December 2009 the Government allowed an appeal to be heard against the latest refusal of planning permission.^[84]
• In April 2010, it was announced that the fourteenth neighbourhood was to be called Kilnwood Vale. It is to be built to the west of Bewbush, with 2,500 homes, and a variety of facilities.^[85]

Neighbouring areas

	Dorking	Horley, Reigate, Redhill	Copthorne
	Horsham		Crawley Down, East Grinstead
		Crawley    East
	St Leonards Forest	Haywards Heath, Burgess Hill	Balcombe

Demography[link]

Graph of population growth in Crawley 1901–2001. Horizontal axis: year. Vertical axis: population.

At the last census in 2001 the population of Crawley was recorded as 99,744.^[86] This accounted for 13.2% of the population of the county of West Sussex. The growth in population of the new town—around 1,000% between 1951 and 2001^[29]—has outstripped that of most similar-sized settlements. For example, in the same period, the population of the neighbouring district of Horsham grew by just 99%.^[87]

Approximately 64.5% of the population is aged below 45, compared to 55% of the population of West Sussex. White British account for 84.5% of the population and 15.5% of people are from other ethnic backgrounds. People of Indian and Pakistani origin account for 4.5% and 3% of the population respectively.^[88][89]

The borough has a population density of around 22 persons per hectare^[90] (54 persons per acre), making it the second most densely populated district in West Sussex, after Worthing. The social mix is similar to the national norm: around 50% are in the ABC1 social category,^[91] although this varies by ward, with just 44% in Broadfield North^[92] compared to 75% in Maidenbower.^[93]

The proportion of people in the borough with higher education qualifications is lower than the national average. Around 14% have a qualification at level 4 or above, compared to 20% nationally.^[94]

Economy[link]

The junction of Faraday Road and Fleming Way, at the heart of the Manor Royal industrial estate

Crawley originally traded as a market town. The Development Corporation intended to develop it as a centre for manufacturing and light engineering, with an industrial zone.^[76] The rapid growth of Gatwick Airport provided opportunities for businesses in the aviation, transport, warehousing and distribution industries. The significance of the airport to local employment and enterprise was reflected by the formation of the Gatwick Diamond partnership. This venture, supported by local businesses, local government and SEEDA, South East England's Regional Development Agency, aims to maintain and improve the Crawley and Gatwick area's status as a region of national and international economic importance.^[96]

Since the Second World War, unemployment in Crawley has been low: the rate was 1.47% of the working-age population in 2003.^[97] During the boom of the 1980s the town boasted the lowest level of unemployment in the UK.^[98] Continuous growth and investment have made Crawley one of the most important business and employment centres in the South East England region.^[2]

Manufacturing industry[link]

Crawley was already a modest industrial centre by the end of the Second World War. Building was an important trade: 800 people were employed by building and joinery firms, and two—Longley's and Cook's—were large enough to have their own factories.^[99] In 1949, 1,529 people worked in manufacturing: the main industries were light and precision engineering and aircraft repair. Many of the jobs in these industries were highly skilled.^[76][99]

Industrial development had to take place relatively soon after the new town was established because part of the Corporation's remit was to move people and jobs out of an overcrowded and war-damaged London. Industrial jobs were needed as well as houses and shops to create a balanced community where people could settle.^[100] The Development Corporation wanted the new town to support a large and mixed industrial base, with factories and other buildings based in a single zone rather than spread throughout the town. A 267-acre (108 ha)^[100] site in the northeastern part of the development area was chosen. Its advantages included flat land with no existing development; proximity to the London–Brighton railway line, the A23 and the planned M23; space for railway sidings (which were eventually built on a much smaller scale than envisaged); and an adjacent 44-acre (18 ha) site reserved for future expansion, on the other side of the railway line (again, not used for this purpose in the end). Princess Elizabeth (later Queen Elizabeth II) opened the first part of the industrial area on 25 January 1950;^[13] its main road was named Manor Royal, and this name eventually came to refer to the whole estate.^[76]