New Towns Act 1946
| Jurisdiction | UK Non-devolved |
| Citation | 1946 c. 68 |
New Towns Act, 1946
(9 & 10 Geo. 6.) CHAPTER 68.
An Act to provide for the creation of new towns by means of development corporations, and for purposes connected therewith.
[1st August 1946]
B E it enacted by the King's most Excellent Majesty, by and with the advice and consent of the Lords Spiritual and Temporal, and Commons, in this present Parliament assembled, and by the authority of the same, as follows:—
1 Designation of sites of new towns.
(1) If the Minister is satisfied, after consultation with any local authorities who appear to him to be concerned, that it is expedient in the national interest that any area of land should be developed as a new town by a corporation established under this Act, he may make an order designating that area as the site of the proposed new town.
(2) The provisions of the First Schedule to this Act shall have effect with respect to the procedure to be followed in connection with the making of orders under this section; and sections sixteen and seventeen of the Town and Country Planning Act, 1944 (which relate respectively to the validity and date of operation of orders under section one of that Act and to the registration of such orders in the register of local land charges) shall apply to an order made under this section as they apply to an order made under section one of that Act.
(3) An order under this section may include in the area designated as the site of the proposed new town any existing town or other centre of population, and references in this Act to a new town or proposed new town shall be construed accordingly.
2 Establishment and general powers of development corporations.
(1) For the purposes of the development of each new town the site of which is designated under section one of this Act, the Minister shall by order establish a corporation (hereinafter called a development corporation) consisting of a chairman, a deputy chairman and such number of other members, not exceeding seven, as may be prescribed by the order; and every such corporation shall be a body corporate by such name as may be prescribed by the order, with perpetual succession and a common seal and power to hold land without licence in mortmain.
(2) The objects of a development corporation established for the purposes of a new town shall be to secure the laying out and development of the new town in accordance with proposals approved in that behalf under the following provisions of this Act, and for that purpose every such corporation shall have power to acquire, hold, manage and dispose of land and other property, to carry out building and other operations, to provide water, electricity, gas, sewerage and other services, to carry on any business or undertaking in or for the purposes of the new town, and generally to do anything necessary or expedient for the purposes of the new town or for purposes incidental thereto:
Provided that, subject to the provisions of this Act with respect to the making of advances to development corporations, a development corporation shall not have power to borrow money.
(3) Without prejudice to any provision of this Act requiring the consent of the Minister to be obtained for anything to be done by a development corporation, the Minister may give directions to any such corporation for restricting the exercise by them of any of their powers under this Act, or for requiring them to exercise those powers in any manner specified in the directions:
Provided that—
(a ) before giving any such directions the Minister shall consult with the chairman of the corporation, or, if the chairman is not available, with the deputy chairman, unless he is satisfied that, on account of urgency, such consultation is impracticable; and
(b ) any transaction between any person and any such corporation acting in purported exercise of their powers under this Act shall not be void by reason only that it was carried out in contravention of such directions unless that person had actual notice of the directions.
(4) For the avoidance of doubt it is hereby declared that the provisions of subsection (2) of this section with respect to the powers of development corporations relate only to their capacity as statutory corporations; and nothing in this section shall be construed as authorising the disregard by a development corporation of any enactment or rule of law.
(5) The provisions of the Second Schedule to this Act shall have effect with respect to the constitution and proceedings of any development corporation established under this Act.
3 Planning and control of development in new towns.
(1) The development corporation established for the purposes of a new town shall from time to time submit to the Minister in accordance with any directions given by him in that behalf their proposals for the development of land within the area designated under this Act as the site of the new town, and the Minister, after consultation with the local planning authority within whose district the land is situated, and with any other local authority who appear to him to be concerned, may approve any such proposals either with or without modification.
(2) Without prejudice to the generality of the powers conferred by section ten of the Town and Country Planning Act, 1932 , a special interim development order made by the Minister under that section with respect to an area designated under this Act as the site of a new town may grant permission for any development of land in accordance with proposals approved under subsection (1) of this section, subject to such conditions, if any, (including conditions requiring details of any proposed development to be submitted to the interim development authority), as may be specified in the order.
(3) In relation to development of any description which is permitted by any such order as is mentioned in the last foregoing subsection, the order may itself suspend, or may enable the Minister to suspend any of the enactments specified in the Third Schedule to this Act (being, with the exception of sections one and two of the Restriction of Ribbon Development Act, 1935 , enactments which may be suspended, under subsection (8) of the said section ten as amended by section thirty-nine of the Town and Country Planning Act, 1944, by any authority authorised in that behalf by an interim development order).
(4) Where a planning scheme is in force with respect to any land within the area designated by an order under section one of this Act as the site of a new town, then, without prejudice to the provisions of section thirty-three of the Town and Country Planning Act, 1944, the order may revoke that scheme so far as it relates to that land; and where a scheme is so revoked—
(a ) the provisions of the Town and Country Planning Acts, 1932 and 1943, with respect to the control of interim development shall, as from the date on which the order is registered under section seventeen of the Town and Country Planning Act, 1944, as applied by this Act, apply to the development of the land as if a resolution to prepare a new planning scheme had taken effect on that date; and
(b ) for the purposes of any such new scheme the material date shall be the date aforesaid or such later date as may be specified in that scheme:
Provided that the proviso to the definition of ‘the material date’ contained in section fifty-three of the Town and Country Planning Act, 1932 (which specifies the material date in relation to any provisions of a scheme which is revoked by a scheme containing the same or a similar provision) shall have effect in relation to any such new scheme as if the original scheme were revoked by that scheme.
4 Acquisition of land by development corporations.
(1) The development corporation established for the purposes of a new town may, with the consent of the Minister, acquire by agreement, or may be authorised by means of a compulsory purchase order made by the corporation and submitted to and confirmed by the Minister to acquire compulsorily,—
(a ) any land within the area designated under this Act as the site of the new town;
(b ) any land adjacent to that area which they require for purposes connected with the development of the new town;
(c ) any land, whether adjacent to that area or not, which they require for the provision of services for the purposes of the new town;
and the provisions of Part I of the Second Schedule to the Town and Country Planning Act, 1944 (which relates to the procedure for making and confirming compulsory purchase orders) shall apply in relation to a compulsory purchase order under this section as they apply in relation to an order authorising a local planning authority to acquire land compulsorily under Part I of that Act.
(2) In relation to the acquisition of land by a development corporation under this section, the following provisions of the Town and Country Planning Act, 1944, that is to say—
(a ) sections thirteen and fourteen (which contain special provisions as to the acquisition under Part I of that Act of land belonging to statutory undertakers and land forming part of commons and other open spaces);
(b ) sections sixteen and seventeen (which relate respectively to the validity and date of operation of compulsory purchase orders under Part I of that Act, and to the registration of such orders in the register of local land charges); and
(c ) section eighteen (which applies the Lands Clauses Acts subject to modifications, including modifications providing for expediting the completion of compulsory purchases under that Part),
shall apply as they apply in...
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