Town and Country Planning is the system by which the British government seeks to maintain a balance between economic development and environmental quality in England. The essential framework for for the system was set in the Town and Country Planning Act 1947 , with a critical addition in 1955 of green belts, which were introduced via a Government Circular.
Substantial responsibility for town and country planning has been devolved in to Welsh Assembly and Scottish Parliament.
The system has not altered much since the Town and Country Planning Act 1947, which repealed all previous legislation, including the first Town Planning Act 1909. Current planning legislation is consolidated in the Town and Country Planning Act 1990 (TCPA 1990) although parts of that Act have been replaced or amended by the provisions of the Planning and Compulsory Purchase Act (PCPA), which received Royal Assent on 13 May 2004.
However, the Government is engaged in a process of radical reform via the Planning Green Paper .
History
The roots of the UK town and country planning system, created in the immediate post-war years, lie in concerns developed over the previous half century in response to industrialisation and urbanisation. The particular cincerns were pollution, urban sprawl and ribbon development. These concerns were expressed through the work of thinkers such as Ebenezer Howard and the philanthropic actions of industrialists such as the Lever Brothers and the Cadbury family.
By the outbreak of World War II, thinking was sufficiently advanced that, even during the war a series of Royal commissions look at the problems of urban planning and development control.
These included:
- the Barlow Commission (1940) into the distribution of industrial population,
- the Scott Committee into rural land use (1941)
- the Uthwatt Committee into compensation and betterment (1942)
- (later) the Reith Report into New Towns (1947).
Also, Patrick Abercrombie developed a plan for the reconstruction of London, which envisaged moving 1.5 million people from London to new and expanded towns.
The culmination of this intellectual effort were:
- The New Towns Act 1946 and
- The Town and Country Planning Act 1947 .
The 1947 Act ineffect nationalised the right to develop land, require all but a small number of specific exclusion to secure planning permission from their local authority (although provision exists to appeal against refusal).
The Act - the essential nature of which is unchanged - requires local authorities to develop Local Plans (and more recently Unitary Development Plans ) to outline whct kind of development would be permitted where and to mark special areas on Local Plan Maps. It did not introduce a formal system of zoning as used in the USA. Counties were expected to develop Structure Plans which set broad targets for the wider area. Structure Plans were always problematic and were often in the process of being replaced by the time they were formally adopted.
- Use Classes Order
- General Development Order
Elements of the modern system
Regional variants
Reform
See also
External links
