The Flickr Electricitycompanies Image Generatr

As part of the great post-WW2 planning reforms, and a move towards wider planning reform to better manage the UK's housing, industrial, infrastucture and land use, most areas of the country produced a planning report. Many of these, now famous documents, were for individual local authorities but the larger conurbations were already recognised as having distinctive regional concerns and here in South Lancashire and North Cheshire the Planning Advisory Committee issued a large report on what was broadly described as the 'river basins of the Mersey & Irwell".

This committee actually had quite a pedigree as it sprang from the formation in 1923 of a Manchester & District Joint Planning Advisory Committee - an ealry example of an attempt to coordinate issues on a sub-regional basis. The early attempts did not really come to much - there was, in the late 1920s for example, an attempt to look at a joint passenger transport scheme that again failed apart from a short-lived regional express bus service killed off by the Traffic Commissioners in 1930/32. Indeed, really, it took until the local government reorganisations of 1974 and the creation of Metropolitan County Councils to bring many of the amalgamated functions together and even they were short-lived.

The Report, issued in 1947, was part of a trio of reports - the City of Manchester's own plan of 1945 and the Manchester & District Regional Plan of the same year. This report includes a series of maps and plans showing major infrastructure across the whole region such as communications, water and sewage and energy supplies. The latter - gas and electriicty undertakings - are shown at the very end of the pre-nationalisation period as in 1948/9, under the post-war Labour administration, both gas and electricity were nationalised. The map shows the supply areas of the various undertakings - many larger boroughs had municipally owned undertakings but smaller boroughs and rural areas were served by various privately owned companies - the most dominant here being the Lancashire Electric Power Company. The other major player was the vast Manchester Corporation Electricity Department. Two other interesting 'players' both with transport links. The wonderfully named SHMD Board was a joint board of four small Cheshire municipalities that banded together to promote a tramway network and the electricity supply to power them and that survived the nationalisation of the electricity side of the business to run trolleybuses and buses until 1969 when it was merged into SELNEC. The other - the South Lancashire Transport Company, allied to the Lancashire United Transport Company, SLT had powers to run trolleybuses and generate the power for them.

The move towards coordination in the electricity industry was stronger than in the gas industry and from the 1920s onwards government policy forced a move towards larger and more efficient generating stations, connected by a national grid and simplified generating and supply voltages and phases. This meant that many of the smaller undertakings here would no longer have generating plants but would take bulk supplies from larger and more efficient 'selected stations'.

Water and sewage were slower to be rationalised over stages with larger 'joint boards' being formed to manage sewage and wastewater and some rationalisation of water undertakings prior to the creation in 1974 of regional water boards that took responsibility for river catchment boards, sewage works and water supplies.

The comminication map highlights the early planning around 'national routes', destined to become the later Motorway network.

The Plan was prepared by R Nicholas (Hon Surveyor to the Committee) and M J Hellier (Planning Officer to the Committee).

If the logo of the Northmet Power Company looks slightly familiar in that it appears to be a copy of the London Transport roundel - there is good reason! Although by the date of this leaflet the North Metropolitan Electric Power Supply Company had been 'divested' from the Underground Group in 1933 when the London Passenger Transport Board was formed the origins of the power supply company had formed part of a closely allied industry at the turn of the century, that of tramways.

Northmet was formed in 1899, by a group connected with the British Electric Traction Co Ltd., who had also acquired an interest in the Metropolitan Electric Tramways Company - they has acquired the rights to acquire, construct and electrify, on behalf of various local authorities including Middlesex CC and Hertfordshire CC, various tram lines across North London. They also needed to obtain the electricity from somewhere and that somewhere would be the generating stations of the Northmet.

Northmet also acquired the powers of becoming the electriicty supply undertaking, to both domestic and industrial consumers, across vast swaithes of this territory. The company also had powers to sell bulk supplies of power to other undertakings so this gave them a good basis for generating on a relatively large scale. They set about constructing Brimsdown Power Station, in 1904, as well as a second station at Willesden. As well as other stations, links to a wider grid especially in the years after WW1 when Government intervention to try and rationalise power generation and supply started, Northmet added a second generating set to Brimsdown, known as the B station.

However in 1913 the Underground Group of companies reached an agreement with BET to rationalise ownership of various tramway undertaking by means of setting up the London & Suburban Traction Company and this effectively included Northmet Power as well as the allied tramways. As can be seen here, the use of the 'Underground' roundel and logo, as well as Johnston typeface as part of this, was therefore developed. In 1933 when the Underground Group formed part of the new LPTB the generation and supply aspects of the old LSTC was not included (in a similar fashion to the Group's bus building 'arm' AEC) but Northmet continued to badge itself and use the logo and elements of the branding on publicity, vehicles and even buildings - some of the latter still survive on London's streets to this day. In 1948 with Nationalisation Northmet was 'split' between the new London Electricity Board and Eastern Electricity and the latter used a version of the roundel from Northmet for many years.

The leaflet tells consumers the nature of supply, at both AC amd DC, a clue that even in 1936 the standardisation of supply voltages etc had yet to be achieved - meaning, for example, that many appliances had to be manufactured in different styles to cope with such differences across even local areas.

If the logo of the Northmet Power Company looks slightly familiar in that it appears to be a copy of the London Transport roundel - there is good reason! Although by the date of this leaflet the North Metropolitan Electric Power Supply Company had been 'divested' from the Underground Group in 1933 when the London Passenger Transport Board was formed the origins of the power supply company had formed part of a closely allied industry at the turn of the century, that of tramways.

Northmet was formed in 1899, by a group connected with the British Electric Traction Co Ltd., who had also acquired an interest in the Metropolitan Electric Tramways Company - they has acquired the rights to acquire, construct and electrify, on behalf of various local authorities including Middlesex CC and Hertfordshire CC, various tram lines across North London. They also needed to obtain the electricity from somewhere and that somewhere would be the generating stations of the Northmet.

Northmet also acquired the powers of becoming the electriicty supply undertaking, to both domestic and industrial consumers, across vast swaithes of this territory. The company also had powers to sell bulk supplies of power to other undertakings so this gave them a good basis for generating on a relatively large scale. They set about constructing Brimsdown Power Station, in 1904, as well as a second station at Willesden. As well as other stations, links to a wider grid especially in the years after WW1 when Government intervention to try and rationalise power generation and supply started, Northmet added a second generating set to Brimsdown, known as the B station.

However in 1913 the Underground Group of companies reached an agreement with BET to rationalise ownership of various tramway undertaking by means of setting up the London & Suburban Traction Company and this effectively included Northmet Power as well as the allied tramways. As can be seen here, the use of the 'Underground' roundel and logo, as well as Johnston typeface as part of this, was therefore developed. In 1933 when the Underground Group formed part of the new LPTB the generation and supply aspects of the old LSTC was not included (in a similar fashion to the Group's bus building 'arm' AEC) but Northmet continued to badge itself and use the logo and elements of the branding on publicity, vehicles and even buildings - some of the latter still survive on London's streets to this day. In 1948 with Nationalisation Northmet was 'split' between the new London Electricity Board and Eastern Electricity and the latter used a version of the roundel from Northmet for many years.

The leaflet tells consumers the nature of supply, at both AC amd DC, a clue that even in 1936 the standardisation of supply voltages etc had yet to be achieved - meaning, for example, that many appliances had to be manufactured in different styles to cope with such differences across even local areas.

A page from the wonderfully detailed Bacon's Atlas of London & Suburbs, this being dated from c1912 by one of the 'special maps' bound in at the front of the atlas. The bulk of London is covered in a series of map sheets at 4" to the mile and is very detailed giving a clear indication of the pre-WW1 city, in its full Victorian and Edwardian splendour but before the massive inter-war expansion into 'Metroland' and similar suburbs.

Bacon's was formed by one George Washington Bacon (1830–1922), an American who set up business in London producing atlases and maps of the capital in about 1870 after a series of business failures. G W Bacon prospered and in c1900 were acquired by the Scottish publishers and cartographers W.& A.K. Johnston of whom they became a subsidiary.

One of the special plates shows the numerous London electricity supply undertakings, mostly private companies although a good few of the Borough councils also ran municipal undertakings. One of the early issues in the electricity supply industry was that many undertakings generated and supplied power at different voltages and phases. This was to become a significant issue that finally forced Government intervention in post-WW1 years as it was hampering the more widespread use of electricity as well as making the manufacturing and use of electrical appliances, both domestic and industrial, difficult. As such many of these companies formed themselves into a 'committee' in c1922 followed by a more binding Joint Electricity Authority in c1925. This largely coalesced around the County of London company, as well as the Underground Group dominated North Met.

This enabled a much larger degree of conformity in supply voltages etc., as well as allowing for the closure of various smaller, early and inefficient generating stations with undertakings being supplied in bulk from either more efficient or the new generation of 'designated' and Grid generating stations.

In 1948 Scarborough Corporation's municipal electricity undertaking was nationalised witht he supply and distribution sections transferred to the new North Eastern Electricity Board - NEEB as seen here - that was headquartered in Newcastle upon Tyne. Oddly almost all of the North Riding of Yorkshire, that Scarborough formed part of, became part of the NEEB and not the Yorkshire Electricity Board. This was likely to balance out the number of consumers so as to make the Boards viable. The Board would pass out of history when the industry was re-privatised in the 1990s.

This inspection cover also has another 'lost' name on it, that of AEI, or Associated Electrical Industries, AEI was a major holding company for two large electrical manufacturers British Thomson-Houston and Metropolitan-Vickers, formed in 1928, although it was not until 1959 AEI itself became a 'brand' as such. Prior to that AEI had continued to allow both component companies to compete with each other for business as well as against rivals such as GEC and English Electric. They were taken over by GEC in 1967 as part of a huge amalgamation of the British electrical manufcaturing industry that would in 1968 also include EE. One of AEI's main plants, at which cables was a major part of the output, was at Birtley in NEEB's operating territiory.

The history of electricity supply int he North Yorkshire town of Scarborough dates back to 1891 when the Corporation obtained a supply order for the town - however they chose to transfer these rights to a private company that began construction of a generating station along with the necessary infrastructure in 1893. The system came into use in 1894 and the Company, base load substantially added to by the opening and operation of the town's trams in 1904, continued in business until 1925. I suspect that the Company may have been part of the Edmundson's Electricity Corporation 'empire' and that the comapny and it's senior staff were also involved int he construction of the tramways.

In that year Scarborough Corporation invoked their right to purchase the undertaking and transfer it to municipal control. The Corporation invested heavily in new plant, including changing over to the newer supply standards, and expanded not only output but also consumers as the use of electricity continued to grow. In 1948, with the nationalisation of the industry, the town's generating station passed to the British Electricity Authority and the supply and distribution to the North Eastern Electricity Board.

Anyhow, this cast iron and concrete inspection hatch still in the town's pavements has done well considering it must be at least a century old.

Our electricity company has overcharged us and doesn't want to give us our money back. Grrrr.
So I have cancelled our direct debit monthly payment arrangement and will pay them by cheque in future.