Town and Country Planning Act 1947

JurisdictionUK Non-devolved


Town and Country Planning Act, 1947

(10 & 11 Geo. 6.) CHAPTER 51.

An Act to make fresh provision for planning the development and use of land, for the grant of permission to develop land and for other powers of control over the use of land; to confer on public authorities additional powers in respect of the acquisition and development of land for planning and other purposes, and to amend the law relating to compensation in respect of the compulsory acquisition of land; to provide for payments out of central funds in respect of depreciation occasioned by planning restrictions; to secure the recovery for the benefit of the community of development charges in respect of certain new development; to provide for the payment of grants out of central funds in respect of expenses of local authorities in connection with the matters aforesaid; and for purposes connected with the matters aforesaid.

[6th August 1947]

Be 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:—

I Central and Local Administration.

Part I.

Central and Local Administration.

S-1 The Minister.

1 The Minister.

The Minister for the purposes of this Act shall be the Minister of Town and Country Planning, and the expression ‘the Minister’ in this Act shall be construed accordingly.

S-2 The Central Land Board.

2 The Central Land Board.

(1) For the purpose of the performance of the functions assigned to them by the following provisions of this Act, and by any corresponding provisions which may be enacted in relation to Scotland, there shall be established a Board to be called the Central Land Board which shall be a body corporate by that name, with perpetual succession and a common seal.

(2) The Board shall consist of a chairman and such number of other members (not exceeding nine) as the Ministers may think expedient, to be appointed by the Ministers, and the Ministers may appoint one of the members of the Board to act as deputy chairman.

(3) The Board, with the approval of the Ministers, may appoint a Secretary to the Board, and such other officers and such servants as the Ministers may, with the consent of the Treasury, determine.

(4) There shall be paid to the members, officers and servants of the Board such remuneration (whether by way of salaries or by way of fees), and such reasonable allowances in respect of expenses properly incurred in the performance of their duties, as may be determined by the Ministers with the consent of the Treasury; and any such remuneration and allowances as aforesaid shall be defrayed out of moneys provided by Parliament.

(5) The Ministers may make regulations with respect to any of the following matters, that is to say:—

(a ) the appointment of members of the Board, and their tenure and vacation of office;

(b ) the execution of instruments by or on behalf of the Board, and the proof of documents purporting to be executed, issued or signed by the Board or by a member, officer or servant thereof,

and subject to the provisions of any such regulations as aforesaid, the Board shall have power to regulate their own procedure (including the manner in which matters subject to the determination of the Board are to be determined by or on behalf of the Board).

(6) The validity of any proceeding of the Board shall not be affected by any vacancy amongst the members thereof, or by any defect in the appointment of a member thereof.

(7) The Board shall, as soon as possible after the end of each financial year of the Board, make to the Ministers a report on the exercise and performance by them of their functions during that year; and the Ministers shall lay a copy of every such report before each House of Parliament.

(8) In this section the expression ‘Ministers’ means the Minister and the Secretary of State concerned with town and country planning in Scotland.

S-3 General provisions as to functions of Central Land Board.

3 General provisions as to functions of Central Land Board.

(1) The Central Land Board shall, in the performance of their functions under this Act, comply with such directions of a general character as may be given to them by the Minister.

(2) The report made for any year under subsection (7) of the last foregoing section shall set out any direction given by the Minister to the Board during that year unless the Minister has notified to the Board his opinion that it is against the interests of national security so to do.

(3) The functions under this Act of the Board, and of their officers and servants, shall be exercised on behalf of the Crown.

(4) Regulations made for the purposes of the last foregoing section shall provide for requiring members of the Board who are interested in any land the subject of a claim or application made to the Board under this Act to disclose to the Board the nature of their interest, and may for that purpose apply any of the provisions of section one hundred and forty-nine of the Companies Act, 1929 , subject to such modifications as may be prescribed by the regulations.

(5) Any administrative expenses incurred for the purposes of this Act by the Board with the approval of the Minister shall, to such extent as may be sanctioned by the Treasury, be defrayed out of moneys provided by Parliament.

S-4 Local Planning authorities, etc.

4 Local Planning authorities, etc.

(1) Subject to the provisions of this section, the local planning authority for the purposes of this Act shall, for each county or county borough, be the council of that county or borough.

(2) If it appears to the Minister that it is expedient that a joint board should be established as the local planning authority for the areas of any two or more such councils as aforesaid, or for any parts of those areas, he may by order constitute those areas or parts as a united district for the purposes of this Act, and constitute a joint board (in this Act referred to as a joint planning board) as the local planning authority for that district:

Provided that the Minister shall not make such an order except after holding a local enquiry unless all the councils concerned have consented to the making of the order.

(3) Where an inquiry has been held under the provisions of the last foregoing subsection, the order shall be laid before Parliament and if either house, within a period of forty days after the order is so laid before it, resolves that the order be annulled, the order shall thereupon cease to have effect, but without prejudice to the validity of anything previously done thereunder or to the making of a new order.

In reckoning for the purposes of this subsection any such period of forty days, no account shall be taken of any time during which Parliament is dissolved or prorogued or during which both Houses are adjourned for more than four days.

(4) The provisions of Part I of the First Schedule to this Act shall have effect with respect to the constitution of joint planning boards under this section; and the provisions of Parts II and III of that Schedule shall have effect with respect to the establishment and functions of planning committees and joint advisory committees of local planning authorities.

(5) References in this Act to a local planning authority (except references thereto in the said First Schedule) or to a local authority shall include references to a joint planning board constituted under this section; and references in this Act to the area of a local planning authority shall be construed—

(a ) in relation to a joint planning board, as references to the united district for which the board is constituted; and

(b ) in relation to a local planning authority for an area of which part only is included in such a district, as references to that part of that area which is not so included.

(6) If it appears to the Minister, after consultation with the local authorities concerned, to be expedient that any land acquired by a local authority under section thirty-eight or forty of this Act should be held by a joint body consisting of representatives of that authority and of any other local authority, he may by order provide for the establishment of such a joint body and for the transfer to that body of the land so acquired; and any such order may make such provision as the Minister considers expedient with respect to the constitution and functions of the joint body including provisions—

(a ) for incorporating the joint body;

(b ) for conferring on them, in relation to the land transferred to them as aforesaid, any of the powers conferred on local authorities by Part IV of this Act in relation to land acquired and held by such authorities for the purposes of the said Part IV;

(c ) for determining the manner in which their expenses are to be defrayed.

II Development Plans.

Part II.

Development Plans.

S-5 Surveys of planning areas and preparation of development plans.

5 Surveys of planning areas and preparation of development plans.

(1) As soon as may be after the appointed day, every local planning authority shall carry out a survey of their area, and shall, not later than three years after the appointed day, or within such extended period as the Minister may in any particular case allow, submit to the Minister a report of the survey together with a plan (hereinafter called a ‘development plan’) indicating the manner in which they propose that land in that area should be used (whether by the carrying out thereon of development or otherwise) and the stages by which any such development should be carried out.

(2) Subject to the provisions of any regulations made under this Act for regulating the form and content of development plans, any such plan...

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