NATIONAL PLANNING

Evening Star, Issue 24297, 11 September 1942, Page 4

NATIONAL PLANNING

RECONSTRUCTION IN BRITAIN (British Official Wireless.) (Rec. 10.35 a.m.) RUGBY, September 10. The of the expert committee on compensation and betterment (increase of land values) in respect to public control of the use of land was published to-day. The committee was appointed in January, 1941, to advise what steps could be taken now or before the end of the war to prevent the work of reconstruction being prejudiced. The report assumes that national planning is intended to he a permanent feature of the administration, with the aim of securing economic security and efficiency for the community. It recognises that this involves subordination to the public good of personal interests and the wishes of landowners. Unreserved acceptance of this conception of the planning is regarded as vital to successful reconstruction and for every aspect of national activity. The committee rejects proposals for pooling land ownership and nationalising the land. It recommends the immediate vesting in the State of the rights of development in all land lying outside the built-up areas on payment of fair compensation. If within the towns land is required for planning it should be bought outright. There should he the power of compulsory acquisition of owners’ interest in land required for public or private development. The planning authority should have the power to cut through the tangle of separate ownerships and boundaries, and make whole areas immediately available for comprehensive replanning as a unit.