The New Towns Acts were a series of Acts of the Parliament of the United Kingdom to found new settlements or to expand substantially existing ones, to establish Development Corporations to deliver them, and to create a Commission to wind up the Corporations and take over their assets and liabilities. Of these, the more substantive acts were the New Towns Act 1946 and the Town Development Act 1952.
"The New Towns Act [1946] was intended to pre-emptively direct urban growth and infrastructural development into new towns, thereby decentralising population and economic opportunity while inhibiting urban sprawl."[1]
New Towns were developed in three generations.
The first generation set up in the late 1940s concentrated predominantly on housing development with provision for rail and seldom for cars; eight were in a ring around London.
The second generation in the early 1960s included a wider mix of uses and used more innovative architecture.
The third generation towns were larger and tended to be designed around car travel.[2]
By 2002, about 2 million people were housed in the New Towns, in about 500,000 homes.[2]
Background
The 1944 Abercrombie Plan for London proposed eight new towns within 50 miles (80 km) of London for up to 500,000 people from inner London. Similar recommendations were made for other major conurbations including Manchester and Birmingham. The 1945 Attlee Government set up a New Towns Commission[3] to formally consider how best to repair and rebuild urban communities ravaged in World War II.
In 1945, John Reith, 1st Baron Reith was appointed as chair of the New Towns Commission. The commission concluded that there was a need to construct new towns using the instrument of development corporations supported by central government. The New Towns Act 1946 cemented this vision in 1946 and New Towns were born.
Reith Commission
The Reith Commission recommended that:
the new town developments should have a population of up to 60,000
they should be built as far as possible on greenfield sites
there should be predominantly single family housing at low density
the homes had to be organised in neighbourhoods around a primary school and nursery schools, a pub and shops selling staple foods
An Act to provide for the creation of new towns by means of development corporations, and for purposes connected therewith.[5]
The New Towns Act 1946 (9 & 10 Geo. 6. c. 68) was the act that put into law the conclusions of the New Towns Commission. ") The act authorised the government to designate areas as new towns, and passing development control functions to a New Town Development Corporation. Several new towns were created in the years following its passing. The Act was replaced by the New Towns Act 1965 and, later, the New Towns Act 1981.
Their first task was to draw up development frameworks for a mix of housing, offices, industrial development, transport infrastructure and open space.[6]
An Act to encourage town development in county districts for the relief of congestion or over-population elsewhere, and for related purposes, and to repeal subsection (5) of section nineteen of the Town and Country Planning Act, 1944, and part of subsection (1) of section five of the New Towns Act, 1946.
Although not formally a "New Towns Act", the Town Development Act uses the powers established by the 1946 Act to expand existing towns to achieve the same or similar purposes.[7][8] The introduction to the act gives its purpose: "An Act to encourage town development in county districts for the relief of congestion or over-population elsewhere, and for related purposes, [etc]".[9] It was this act that enabled London County Council to establish its overspill estates as far away as Cornwall and Northamptonshire. By 1973, over 40 new and expanded towns were described in Parliament as "London overspill".[10] The Act, despite being "obscure and almost forgotten", is credited as having a "significant effect upon the pattern of urban development" in the UK.[11]
New Towns Acts 1952, 1953, 1955, 1958, 1964, 1966 and 1969
An Act to increase the aggregate amount of the advances which may be made to development corporations under subsection (1) of section twelve of the New Towns Act, 1946; and to amend section thirteen of that Act in respect of the reports and accounts to be laid before Parliament.
An Act to make fresh provision respecting the limits on the amount of the advances which may be made to development corporations under section 12(1) of the New Towns Act 1946 and the Commission for the New Towns under section 3(1) of the New Towns Act 1959.
An Act to raise the limit on advances imposed by section 43 of the New Towns Act 1965; to amend the Land Compensation Act 1961 and the Land Compensation (Scotland) Act 1963 in connection with extensions made after the commencement of this Act to the areas of new towns; to repeal provisions of section 46 of the New Towns Act 1965 and section 13 of the New Towns Act 1946 relating to certain accounts and reports; and for purposes connected with the matters aforesaid.
An Act to make, as respects England and Wales, new provision in place of section fifteen of the New Towns Act, 1946, as to the disposal of the undertakings of development corporations and other matters arising when a development corporation has achieved or substantially achieved the purposes for which it is established; to amend the law relating to development corporations by increasing the limit on the advances which may be made to them under sub section (1) of section twelve of that Act, by providing for housing subsidies to be wholly or partly withheld in respect of dwellings disposed of by them, and by authorising them to make contributions towards the provision of amenities; and for purposes connected with the matters aforesaid.
An Act to make, as respects England and Wales, new provision in place of section fifteen of the New Towns Act, 1946, as to the disposal of the undertakings of development corporations and other matters arising when a development corporation has achieved or substantially achieved the purposes for which it is established; to amend the law relating to development corporations by increasing the limit on the advances which may be made to them under sub section (1) of section twelve of that Act, by providing for housing subsidies to be wholly or partly withheld in respect of dwellings disposed of by them, and by authorising them to make contributions towards the provision of amenities; and for purposes connected with the matters aforesaid.[19]
The New Towns Act 1959 established the Commission for New Towns.[a] Under this Act, "the Minister of Housing and Local Government was authorised to set up a Commission on New Towns to take over the functions of the development corporations whose purposes had, in his opinion, been achieved or substantially achieved".[20]
An Act to consolidate certain enactments relating to new towns and to matters connected therewith, being (except in the case of section 1(1) of the New Towns Act 1964) those enactments in their application to England and Wales; with corrections and improvements made under the Consolidation of Enactments (Procedure) Act 1949.
It may startle some political economists to talk of commencing the building of new cities ... planned as cities from their first foundation, and not mere small towns and villages. ... A time will arrive when something of this sort must be done ... England cannot escape from the alternative of new city building.
The New Towns Act 1965 substantially rewrote and consolidated the 1946 act.[22] While continuing the authority to establish further new towns, the act gives the Commission for the New Towns the task of "taking over, holding, managing and turning to account the property previously vested in the development corporation for a new town".[22]: 1314
Several new towns were created in the years following its passing. Its most immediate use was the designation of Milton Keynes in 1967, which was envisaged to become a "new city" of 250,000 people.[23] The 1965 act replaced the 1946 act and was replaced in turn by the 1981 act.
An Act to make provision for the creation of new towns, for the exercise by new town commissions of certain functions in relation to such towns, for the expansion or development of existing towns, and for purposes related to those matters.
An Act to consolidate certain enactments relating to new towns and to matters connected therewith being those enactments in their application to Scotland; with corrections and improvements made under the Consolidation of Enactments (Procedure) Act 1949.
An Act to raise the limits imposed by the New Towns Act 1965 on the amounts which may be borrowed by the development corporations for new towns and the Commission for the New Towns and make provision for the payment of pensions to chairmen of development corporations and of remuneration and allowances to members of committees conducting business for the Commission.
An Act to provide for the transfer to district councils of the interest of the Commission for the New Towns and development corporations in dwellings and of any associated property, rights, liabilities and obligations; to increase the maximum number of members of development corporations; and for connected purposes.
An Act to increase the limit imposed by section 43 of the New Towns Act 1965 on the amounts which may be borrowed by development corporations and the Commission for the New Towns.
An Act to increase the limit imposed by section 43 of the New Towns Act 1965 on the amounts which may be borrowed by development corporations and the Commission for the New Towns.
An Act to increase the limit imposed by section 60 of the New Towns Act 1981 on the amounts which may be borrowed by development corporations and the Commission for the New Towns.
An Act to remove the limit on the amount of grants that may be made to urban development corporations and to provide a new limit applicable only to the amounts for the time being outstanding in respect of sums borrowed by them and sums issued by the Treasury in fulfilment of guarantees of their debts.
These acts "increase the limit imposed by section 43 of the New Towns Act 1965 on the amounts which may be borrowed by development corporations and the Commission for the New Towns".[27]
An Act to provide for the transfer to district councils of the interest of the Commission for the New Towns and development corporations in dwellings and of any associated property, rights, liabilities and obligations; to increase the maximum number of members of development corporations; and for connected purposes.
Among other functions, this act provided for "the interest of the Commission for the New Towns and [the] development corporations in dwellings and of any associated property, rights, liabilities and obligations" to be transferred to district councils.[28]
An Act to make provision as respects the revocation or variation of orders made under section 1, 2 or 5(1) of the New Towns (Scotland) Act 1968; and for connected purposes.
An Act to consolidate certain enactments relating to new towns and connected matters, being (except for section 43 of the New Towns Act 1965 and sections 126 and 127 of the Local Government, Planning and Land Act 1980 and certain related provisions) enactments which apply only to England and Wales.
An Act to make provision with respect to certain matters connected with new towns; to amend paragraph 8(1) of Schedule 31 to the Local Government, Planning and Land Act 1980; and for connected purposes.
The New Towns Act 1981 is an "Act to consolidate certain enactments relating to new towns and connected matters, being (except for section 43 of the New Towns Act 1965 and sections 126 and 127 of the Local Government, Planning and Land Act 1980 and certain related provisions) enactments which apply only to England and Wales."[30]
An Act to establish public bodies to be known as Scottish Enterprise and Highlands and Islands Enterprise and to make provision as to their functions; to dissolve the Scottish Development Agency and the Highlands and Islands Development Board; to make further provision as regards new towns in Scotland; and for connected purposes.
Existing towns and villages substantially expanded and infilled. As of the 2011 census, the Milton Keynes urban area includes Newport Pagnell and Woburn Sands, which were outside the original designated area.
Intended as a linear town to encompass Portadown and Lurgan, but has not yet done so. The population figure is for this statistical area and thus may be misleading.
^"New Towns Act 1946"(PDF). HMSO. 1 August 1946. Archived from the original on 19 January 2022. Retrieved 25 November 2021.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link)
^The South East Study 1961–1981 (Report). London: HMSO. 1964. Retrieved 27 November 2006. A big change in the economic balance within the south east is needed to modify the dominance of London and to get a more even distribution of growth
