Sir George Lionel Pepler (24 February 1882 – 13 April 1959) was a British
town planner
An urban planner (also known as town planner) is a professional who practices in the field of town planning, urban planning or city planning.
An urban planner may focus on a specific area of practice and have a title such as city planner, town ...
who was influential in the development of town planning practice in the first half of the twentieth century.
Life and career
George Pepler was born 24 February 1882 in
Croydon
Croydon is a large town in south London, England, south of Charing Cross. Part of the London Borough of Croydon, a local government district of Greater London. It is one of the largest commercial districts in Greater London, with an extensi ...
,
Surrey, and was educated at
Bootham School
Bootham School is an independent Quaker boarding school, on Bootham in the city of York in England. It accepts boys and girls ages 3–19, and had an enrolment of 605 pupils in 2016. It is one of seven Quaker schools in England.
The schoo ...
,
York
York is a cathedral city with Roman origins, sited at the confluence of the rivers Ouse and Foss in North Yorkshire, England. It is the historic county town of Yorkshire. The city has many historic buildings and other structures, such as a ...
, and
The Leys School
The Leys School is a co-educational independent school in Cambridge, England. It is a day and boarding school for about 574 pupils between the ages of eleven and eighteen, and a member of the Headmasters' and Headmistresses' Conference.
Histo ...
,
Cambridge
Cambridge ( ) is a College town, university city and the county town in Cambridgeshire, England. It is located on the River Cam approximately north of London. As of the 2021 United Kingdom census, the population of Cambridge was 145,700. Cam ...
.
[ Scottish Archive Network: George Pepler]
, Retrieved 17 January 2013
He trained as a
surveyor, but became interested in development and town planning issues, and established a practice with Ernest G. Allen. From 1908, they were among the first to specialise in laying out new villages and housing estates for landowners.
[ Pepler became a member of the Garden Cities Association (later the ]Town and Country Planning Association
The Town and Country Planning Association (TCPA) is an independent research and campaigning charity founded and based in the United Kingdom. It works to enable homes, places and communities in which everyone can thrive. Through its research, tr ...
), and of the National Housing and Town Planning Council. In 1914 he was a founding member of the Town Planning Institute
The Royal Town Planning Institute (RTPI) is the professional body representing planners in the United Kingdom, and Ireland. It promotes and develops policy affecting planning and the built environment. Founded in 1914, the institute was gran ...
(TPI). Also in 1914, as a member of the Local Government Board
The Local Government Board (LGB) was a British Government supervisory body overseeing local administration in England and Wales from 1871 to 1919.
The LGB was created by the Local Government Board Act 1871 (C. 70) and took over the public health a ...
, he was placed in charge of the Greater London Arterial Road Conferences. In 1919, he was appointed Chief Town Planning Inspector to the Ministry of Health, a post which he held until 1941. He was then Chief Technical Adviser to the Ministry of Town and Country Planning from 1943 to 1946. In these posts he was responsible for persuading local authorities of the importance of town planning for communities, and then, after the end of the Second World War
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposi ...
, for their overall responsibility for guiding the process of post-war housing and physical reconstruction.[ArchivesHub: Papers of Sir George Pepler]
Retrieved 17 January 2013
Pepler was largely responsible for preparing the Town and Country Planning Act 1947
The Town and Country Planning Act 1947 (10 & 11 Geo. VI c. 51) was an Act of Parliament in the United Kingdom passed by the Labour government led by Clement Attlee. It came into effect on 1 July 1948, and along with the Town and Country Plannin ...
, which gave a leading role to town planning within central and local government, and enshrined the concept of the green belt
A green belt is a policy and land-use zone designation used in land-use planning to retain areas of largely undeveloped, wild, or agricultural land surrounding or neighboring urban areas. Similar concepts are greenways or green wedges, which ...
. He later took on planning consultancy roles in Renfrewshire
Renfrewshire () ( sco, Renfrewshire; gd, Siorrachd Rinn Friù) is one of the 32 council areas of Scotland.
Located in the west central Lowlands, it is one of three council areas contained within the boundaries of the historic county of Re ...
, and between 1950-54 for the Government of Singapore.[ He was a member of the Royal Commission on ]common land
Common land is land owned by a person or collectively by a number of persons, over which other persons have certain common rights, such as to allow their livestock to graze upon it, to collect wood, or to cut turf for fuel.
A person who has a ...
in 1955-58.[
He became President of the TPI in 1919-20, and uniquely served for a second term in 1949-50, as well as acting as the organisation's Secretary and Treasurer at different times. He also received the organisation's Gold Medal. He chaired both the Town Planning Joint Examination Board and the Town and Country Planning Summer School for many years.][ He was President of the International Federation for Housing and Town Planning in 1935-38, and again between 1947 and 1952 before becoming its Honorary President for life. He was also active in the ]National Playing Fields Association
Fields in Trust, is a British charity set up in 1925 as the National Playing Fields Association (NPFA), by Brigadier-General Reginald Kentish and the Duke of York, later King George VI, who was the first president, which protects parks and green s ...
, and in the Council for the Preservation of Rural England.[
He was knighted in 1948.][ He died in ]Dorset
Dorset ( ; archaically: Dorsetshire , ) is a county in South West England on the English Channel coast. The ceremonial county comprises the unitary authority areas of Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole and Dorset. Covering an area of , ...
at the age of 77.[
]
Legacy
The George Pepler International Award was established by the Royal Town Planning Institute
The Royal Town Planning Institute (RTPI) is the professional body representing planners in the United Kingdom, and Ireland. It promotes and develops policy affecting planning and the built environment. Founded in 1914, the institute was gra ...
in 1973, and is awarded to a person aged under 30 undertaking research in some aspect of town planning. Planning Resource, ''International prize open for entries'', 18 May 2012
Retrieved 17 January 2013
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Pepler, George
1882 births
1959 deaths
People from Croydon
British urban planners
Presidents of the Royal Town Planning Institute
People educated at Bootham School
Knights Bachelor