Town Planning Act 1925

JurisdictionUK Non-devolved
Citation1925 c. 16
Year1925


Town Planning Act, 1925

(15 & 16 Geo. 5.) 16.

An Act to consolidate the enactments relating to town planning in England and Wales.

[9th April 1925]

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:—

S-1 Town planning schemes.

1 Town planning schemes.

(1) A town planning scheme may be made in accordance with the provisions of this Act as respects any land which is in course of development or appears likely to be used for building purposes, with the general object of securing proper sanitary conditions, amenity, and convenience in connection with the laying out and use of the land, and of any neighbouring lands:

Provided that, where a piece of land already built upon or a piece of land not likely to be used for building purposes is so situate with respect to any land likely to be used for building purposes that the general object of the scheme would be better secured by its inclusion in any town planning scheme made with respect to the last-mentioned land, the scheme may include such piece of land as aforesaid, and may provide for the demolition or alteration of ally buildings thereon so far as may be necessary for carrying the scheme into effect.

(2) Where it appears to the Minister of Health (hereinafter referred to as the Minister) that on account of the special architectural, historic or artistic interest attaching to a locality it is expedient that with a view to preserving the existing character and to protecting the existing features of the locality, a town planning scheme should be made with respect to any area comprising that locality, the Minister may, notwithstanding that the land or any part thereof is already developed, authorise a town planning scheme to be made with respect to that area prescribing the space about buildings, or limiting the number of buildings to be erected, or prescribing the height or character of buildings, and, subject as aforesaid, the provisions of this Act shall apply accordingly.

(3) The expression ‘land likely to be used for building purposes’ shall include any land likely to be used as, or for the purpose of providing, open spaces, roads, streets, parks, pleasure or recreation grounds, or for the purpose of executing any work upon or under the land incidental to a town planning scheme, whether in the nature of a building work or not, and the decision of the Minister, whether land is likely to be used for building purposes or not, shall be final and conclusive.

S-2 Power of local authorities to prepare or adopt town planning schemes.

2 Power of local authorities to prepare or adopt town planning schemes.

(1) A local authority may by resolution decide—

(a ) to prepare a town planning scheme with reference to any land within, or in the neighbourhood of, their area in regard to which a scheme may be made under this Act; or

(b ) to adopt, with or without any modifications, any town planning scheme proposed by all or any of the owners of any land with respect to which the local authority are themselves by this Act authorised to prepare a scheme:

Provided that—

(i) if any such resolution of a local authority extends to land not within the area of that local authority, the resolution shall not have effect until it is approved by the Minister, and the Minister may, in giving his approval, vary the extent of the land to be included within the area of the proposed town planning scheme; and

(ii) where any local authorities are desirous of acting jointly in the preparation or adoption of a town planning scheme, they may concur in appointing out of their respective bodies a joint committee for the purpose, and in conferring with or without restrictions on any such committee any powers which the appointing councils might exercise for the purpose, and the provisions of sections fifty-seven and fifty-eight of the Local Government Act, 1894 , in regard to joint committees, shall, with the necessary modifications, apply to any joint committee so appointed.

(2) A town planning scheme prepared or adopted by a local authority shall not have effect unless it is approved by order of the Minister, and the Minister may refuse to approve any scheme except with such modifications and subject to such conditions as he thinks fit to impose.

(3) A town planning scheme, when approved by the Minister, shall have effect as if it were enacted in this Act.

(4) A town planning scheme may be varied or revoked by a subsequent scheme prepared or adopted and approved in accordance with this Act, or in manner provided by regulations made by the Minister under this Act, and the Minister, on the application of the responsible authority, or of any other person appearing to him to be interested, may by order revoke a town planning scheme if he thinks that under the special circumstances of the case the scheme should be so revoked.

S-3 Duty of certain councils to prepare town planning schemes.

3 Duty of certain councils to prepare town planning schemes.

(1) The council of every borough or other urban district containing a population, according to the census taken in the year nineteen hundred and twenty-one, of more than twenty thousand shall, before the first day of January, nineteen hundred and twenty-nine, prepare and submit to the Minister a town planning scheme in respect of all land within the borough or urban district in respect of which a town planning scheme may be made under this Act.

(2) Without prejudice to the powers of the council under this Act, every scheme to which this section applies shall deal with such matters as may be determined by regulations to be made by the Minister.

(3) Every regulation so made shall be laid before both Houses of Parliament as soon as may be after it is made, and, if an address is presented by either House within twenty-one days on which that House has sat next after any such regulation is laid before it praying that the regulation may be annulled, His Majesty in Council may annul the regulation, but without prejudice to the validity of anything previously done thereunder.

S-4 Development of estates pending preparation of town planning schemes.

4 Development of estates pending preparation of town planning schemes.

4. The Minister may by special or general order provide that where a resolution to prepare or adopt a town planning scheme has been passed,or where before the thirty-first day of July nineteen hundred and nine-teen, or by virtue of any of the provisions of this Act, the preparation, adoption or making of a town planning scheme has been authorised, the development of estates and building operations may be permitted to proceed pending the preparation, adoption or making and approval of the town planning scheme,subject to such conditions as may be prescribed by the order.

S-5 Contents of town planning schemes.

5 Contents of town planning schemes.

(1) The Minister may prescribe a set of general provisions (or separate sets of general provisions adapted for areas of any special character) for carrying out the general objects of town planning schemes, and in particular for dealing with the matters set out in the First Schedule to this Act, and the general provisions, or set of general provisions appropriate to the area for which a town planning scheme is made, shall take effect as part of every scheme, except so far as provision is made by the scheme as approved by the Minister for the variation or exclusion of any of those provisions.

(2) Special provisions shall in addition be inserted in every town planning scheme—

(a ) defining in such manner as may be prescribed by regulations under this Act the area to which the scheme is to apply; and

(b ) defining the authority who are to be responsible for enforcing the observance of the scheme, and for the execution of any works which under the scheme or this Act are to be executed by a local authority (in this Act referred to as the responsible authority); and

(c ) providing for any matters which may be dealt with by general provisions, and otherwise supplementing, excluding, or varying the general provisions, and also for dealing with any special circumstances or contingencies for which adequate provision is not made by the general provisions; and

(d ) providing for the suspension, so far as necessary for the proper carrying out of the scheme, of any statutory enactments, byelaws, regulations, or other provisions, under whatever authority made, which are in operation in the area included in the scheme.

(3) Where land included in a town planning scheme is in the area of more than one local authority, or is in the area of a local authority by whom the scheme was not prepared, the responsible authority may be one of those local authorities, or for certain purposes of the scheme one local authority and for certain purposes another local authority, or a joint, body constituted specially for the purpose by the scheme, and all necessary provisions may be made by the scheme for constituting the joint body and giving them the necessary powers and duties:

Provided that, except with the consent of the London County Council, no other local authority shall, as respects any land in the administrative county of London, prepare or be responsible for enforcing the observance of a town planning scheme under this Act, or for the execution of any works which under the scheme or this Act are to be executed by a local authority.

(4) All general provisions made under this Act shall be laid as soon as may be before Parliament, and the Rules Publication Act, 1893 , shall apply to such provisions as if they were statutory rules within the meaning of section one of that Act.

S-6 Procedure regulations of the Minister.

6 Procedure regulations of the Minister.

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