Before mass motorisation - Transport Policy and Planning in Great Britain - page 74

subject to conditions). However this function has to be seen as complementary to statutory
development planning - the other main component of the 1947 Act. In this context the
overall objective is to secure development in accordance with 'the development plan'.
County and borough councils were obliged to prepare plans for their areas, based on
surveys of development needs followed by the identification of appropriate sites where
these needs could be met. This in turn provided guidance to other council departments
(e.g. schools and highways) and to utility companies who were responsible for provision
of the infrastructure and services necessary for development to proceed.
The 1947 Act also strengthened local authorities' powers to acquire land compulsorily.
This was particularly important in connection with areas designated for 'comprehensive
development', notably town centres, where the fragmentation of land ownership would
otherwise be a serious impediment.
From the perspective of the 21st century it is difficult to appreciate the extent
to which the introduction of development plans was allied to development by local
authorities and other public agencies (rather than the regulation of proposals from the
private sector). In the early post-war years for example almost all housing development
was public, i.e. local authority housing. In part this was a legacy of the centralised control
necessary during the wartime period. It also reflected popular support for the notion of
the 'Welfare State' as a means of ensuring adequate housing, education, healthcare,
employment and social security.
Government action in the field of development planning needs to be seen as
an adjunct to these broader goals. Nevertheless there was not a uniform political
consensus, particularly where issues of property and private ownership were involved.
The difference between the two main parties is neatly symbolised by the decision of the
incoming Conservative Government in 1951 to exclude the word 'Planning' from the
title of its Ministry of Housing and Local Government. It has been absent from the title
of the government department responsible for planning ever since.