This was the time when Labour was supposed to be at its most radical. The great reforming government. Yet this manifesto commitment on Land and planning would have transformed Britain. More than the weak reform of Labour under the 1947 Town and Country Planning act alone.
Protection of the Environment and Industrial Planning? Radical indeed. Increase in land values due to ‘Community Action’ (Planning Zoning and Consent) should be secured for the Community? Not just Radical then – but still radical by today’s standards. And the use of derelict land? Labour was never so radical..
7. THE LAND
Great Britain is a small country with a vast population. It is therefore essential that the best use should be made of its land.
The full development of our national resources; the protection from disfigurement of the countryside; the balanced location of industry, and a successful housing policy all depend upon comprehensive measures of Town and Country planning.
Development rights outside built-up areas should immediately be acquired for the public and there should be a periodic levy on all increases in site values. Every increase in values due to community action should be secured for the community.
The fullest use must be made of agricultural land for food production. The State should, subject to the owner’s right of appeal to an impartial tribunal, have the right to take over all land which is badly managed or badly farmed, and any other land which in the interests of good cultivation and of the population on the land should be in its control.
These reforms, implemented would have been a huge driver for Britain’s post war recovery. It would have allowed for some fundamental mistakes in Land planning to have been avoided and would still have been fit for purpose today.
