ON this date in 1947 Lewis Silkin MP, Minister for Town & Country Planning signed the Designation Order that was the official starting document for the construction of a New Town at Harlow.

Over the years, we have conducted a large number of interviews with residents, on why they came to Harlow.

Here is our interview with former chair of Harlow Council, Donald Legat Anderson.

We interviewed Donald in March 2017, when he was 99 years old. He lived to the remarkable age of 102.

When it came to the New Town, Donald was there from the very start.

He was there when the Arkwright family signed over vast tracts of land for the new town as part of a compulsory purchase order.

As well as being on this site, all our interviews are on a hard drive, so they can be preserved for posterity. We did 70 films for Harlow is 70 and 75 films for Harlow is 75. We have plans for a project in 2027, when Harlow New Town is 80 years old.

More interviews can be found on the channel below.

https://www.yourharlow.com/category/history/harlow-is-70-why-i-came-here/