notice of their intention to close the houses. Notices were served under the Public Health Acts in respect of 254,749 houses; in 218,873 of the houses concerned the defects were remedied by the owners, and in 1,931 houses by the Local Authorities.

While these figures are not unsatisfactory, it is hoped that still better results will be secured in the ensuing years.

The figures as to proceedings under sections 17 and 18 of the Act of 1890 were as follows :—

3,189

754

Representations made with a view to Closing Orders
Dwelling-houses in respect of which Closing Orders were made.. 1,808
Closing Orders determined after houses were made fit
Dwelling houses in respect of which Demolition Orders were made
Dwelling houses demolished in pursuance of Demolition Orders..

UNHEALTHY AREAS.

595

597

It is not always possible to deal effectively with a particular area by requiring the repair of individual houses, and in such cases it becomes necessary to consider a scheme for the improvement of the area as a whole.

As stated above, the Government have undertaken to provide an annual contribution not exceeding £200,000 for the deficiency on Local Authorities' accounts for the improvement of slum areas.

The schemes approved during the year were those of the London County Council for the Brady Street area; of the Metropolitan Borough Council of Poplar for the Lower North Street and Sophia Street areas; and of the Metropolitan Borough Council of Stepney for the Dupont Street area.

Schemes for areas in other large towns are under consideration.

The Committee under the Chairmanship of Mr. Neville Chamberlain, M.P., which was appointed by the Minister to consider and advise on the principles to be followed in dealing with unhealthy areas, issued their Second and Final Report on the 20th April, 1921. The Report has been published and placed on sale as a Ŝtationery Office paper. The Committee emphasised the importance of a continuous inspection in the area of each Local Authority as provided for in the Housing (Inspection of District) Regulations, 1910; and made important suggestions with regard to improvement and slum clearance schemes, town planning, and the development of self-contained garden cities.

ORGANISATION.

Director-General of Housing.-The Department were fortunate in securing the services, as Director-General of Housing, of Sir Charles T. Ruthen, F.R.I.B.A., who has placed his great ability and experience. at the disposal of the Government in an honorary capacity.

Regional Organisation. In the altered circumstances it was found possible to dispense with the regional housing organisation, and all the regional offices had been closed by the end of the year. The Regional Commissioners and their staff relieved the Department of a very large amount of detailed work in connection with the approval and expedition of housing schemes, and their loyal and untiring services, given under difficult conditions, were of the greatest value.

Town Planning.

GENERAL POLICY.

It is becoming increasingly recognised that the policy of town planning is not only one which will guard the future growth of towns against the inconveniences and the serious evils which have been the result of the haphazard development of the past, but that it is, directly and indirectly, a measure of true economy.

Many Local Authorities have by now realised how much they will gain by preventing the erection of buildings or other works on routes which will be needed, sooner or later, for important thoroughfares or on sites which will be required for open spaces or other public purposes, and by taking reasonable measures to foster the use of the land for the purposes-industrial, residential or other for which it is most suited and, incidentally, securing transport facilities adapted to local requirements, particularly of industry; and they see the importance, generally, of making plans in good time so as to ensure that the operations of the private developer may harmonise with public needs, thereby often saving the necessity for public expenditure without any hardship to the owner, and also of taking precautions so that when public works have to be executed they may be carried out at a minimum cost.

The Department have not brought pressure to bear on the Local Authorities to prepare schemes in view of their other pre-occupations; nevertheless many Authorities, both urban and rural, including numbers to whom the compulsory provision of the Housing, Town. Planning, &c. Act, 1919, does not apply, are making progress with schemes. Where a Local Authority have passed a resolution deciding to prepare a scheme, it is important that there should be as little delay as possible in the further procedure, especially in preparing the Preliminary Statement of the main proposals of the scheme, so that there may be no avoidable check to development through uncertainty as to how such development will be affected.

TOWN PLANNING SCHEMES PROPOSED OR IN OPERATION.

The total number of Local Authorities which had proposed or were engaged in preparing town planning schemes on the 31st March, 1922, was 167, the total area covered by these schemes amounting to 744,222 Further details are given in the tabular statement in Appendix IV (page 145 below).

acres.

Statements showing the schemes approved during the year ended the 31st March, 1922, with a brief account of their provisions, the schemes under consideration, the Preliminary Statements approved or submitted for approval, and the Local Authorities which passed resolutions during the year deciding to prepare town planning schemes, are given in Appendices V, VI and VII (pages 146 to 148 below).

MODEL CLAUSES.

Considerable progress has been made with the preparation of model clauses for town planning schemes, and it is hoped that it will be possible to issue them very shortly. It is believed that they will

greatly relieve the Local Authorities in their work, and will at the same time facilitate a quicker handling of the schemes when they come before. the Department for approval.

Standard forms of resolutions, notices to owners, and other procedure forms have been prepared and are being issued to Local Authorities undertaking schemes.

ASSISTANCE OF VALUATION DEPARTMENT OF BOARD

OF INLAND Revenue.

Arrangements were made by the Department, early in the year, with the Board of Inland Revenue for the services of officers of the Valuation Department to be available for Local Authorities in the preparation of town planning schemes. The Local Authorities have been advised to make use of this arrangement, and a number of Authorities have already received from the District Valuers useful reports as to the probable effect of their proposals. It is important that full use should be made by Local Authorities of the Valuers' services in preparing their schemes, both for economy and in order to make sure that the proposals put forward are fair to owners of property.

CONSULTATION OF LOCAL INTERESTS.

The success of a town planning scheme in practice will depend on the extent to which it commands local support and acceptance, and it is therefore essential that schemes should be made widely known and that all sections of the community should have opportunities of expressing their views and making suggestions on the proposals.

A circular was accordingly issued to Local Authorities in August, 1921, emphasising the desirability of obtaining general public support for their proposals and of consulting industrial, professional, and trade organisations, organisations of landowners, representatives of transport and building interests, and other recognised representatives of sectional interests, as well as social agencies, in order that the views of each class may be ascertained and met so far as reasonably practicable. The Federation of British Industries and the Central Chamber of Commerce have drawn the attention of their branches and local representatives to the importance of keeping in touch with town planning proposals in their districts.

PRELIMINARY STATEMENT.

The method of preparing a Preliminary Statement outlining the main features of the scheme prior to the preparation of the scheme in detail has proved so convenient that, in a number of cases where Local Authorities had been authorised, before the Act of 1919 came into force, to prepare schemes, and the preparation had proceeded some way under the old regulations, the Local Authorities have nevertheless been willing to undertake the preparation of a Preliminary Statement under the new regulations.

The officers of the Department have been able to assist Local Authorities by informally discussing with them their proposals before

the adoption of their draft Preliminary Statements, thus avoiding difficulties and preventing unnecessary labour.

One error against which it has been found necessary to guard is that of including too much detail in town planning proposals-in other words the attempt to settle site or estate plans as distinct from the larger town plans. The town plan should generally deal only with the broader features of the scheme (e.g., the main lines of communication and the relative building lines; allocation of areas for residential, industrial or other uses, or for open spaces; and regulation of the density of buildings). The lay-out of estates within the main outlines settled by the scheme can be determined for any section when development is about to begin there.

The avoidance of the detail of site-planning will assist in expediting the preparation of the Preliminary Statement; and the preparation. and approval of the Preliminary Statement at the earliest possible date, consistently with careful planning, is of the utmost importance in order to remove any check to development while at the same time safeguarding the ultimate plan. It will also prevent the mistakes which experience shows to arise through attempting to settle the details of development, as distinct from the broad outlines, too much in advance of the development itself.

The model clauses in course of preparation will contain provisions enabling Local Authorities to exercise reasonable control over estate development when it occurs. When development takes place in advance of a scheme, the model Order enabling Local Authorities to permit interim development in accordance with the Preliminary Statement, where that has been prepared and approved, also enables them to make such other reasonable requirements as may be necessary in connection with estate plans.

Another point on which misconception is found to be common is the extent to which Local Authorities are empowered to include the already developed portion of a town in a town planning scheme. While it is at times desirable to take the probable future of the whole area of a town into consideration when preparing a scheme, and it may be desirable on that account that a plan should be prepared showing proposals for the development of the town as a whole, the terms of section 54 of the Housing, Town Planning, &c. Act, 1909, as amended by the Act of 1919, contemplate the preparation of a town. plan for built-up lands only where a scheme is being prepared for an undeveloped area and the inclusion of land already built upon would better secure the general object of the scheme for the undeveloped area. They could not therefore normally be held to justify the inclusion in the scheme of the whole, or any considerable portion, of the built-up area of a town.

At the same time it should be borne in mind that, when a Local Authority pass a resolution deciding to prepare a scheme, they cannot at subsequent stages add any land to the area adopted under the resolution without going through the whole procedure from the beginning, whereas it is possible subsequently to omit portions of the area from the scheme if desired. Therefore, provided that the provisions of the Act are complied with, it is better to include rather than omit, at the outset, any pieces of land about which there may be a legitimate doubt.

INTERIM DEVELOPMENT.

During the year under report twenty Interim Development Orders were issued under section 45 of the Act of 1919.

One of these was a General Order for the City of Bradford, which enables the Council to permit development to proceed in general accordance with the Preliminary Statement approved by the Department and with such other reasonable requirements as the Council may make. An appeal to the Department is allowed where the applicant for permission to develop feels aggrieved by any refusal of permission or by the requirements imposed. The other nineteen Orders permitted particular developments to proceed in advance of the settlement of the Preliminary Statement.

REGIONAL PLANNING.

Further Joint Town Planning Committees have been formed during the year and others are under consideration. These Committees are advisory, their functions being to prepare an outline plan and statement of development for the whole region concerned, and to advise on the co-ordination of the schemes of the various Authorities as they progress.

As regards the Committees whose establishment was mentioned in last year's Report, those for the South Yorkshire Coalfield, Deeside, and South Tees-side are carrying on their work with the assistance of specially appointed experts. The South Yorkshire Committee have adopted tentative proposals and the complete report is nearly ready. The South Tees-side Committee have agreed the line of the principal arterial road, and sections of it are being constructed as work for the relief of unemployment. The Manchester and District and the Dee-side Committees have made considerable progress. In the case of Manchester, out of about 100 Local Authorities within and adjoining the area, 73 are already represented on the Joint Committee.

During the year Joint Advisory Committees have been formed for North Tyneside, South Tyneside, and West Middlesex. For the purposes of the Hull (South-east) Town Planning Scheme, the five Local Authorities concerned have agreed to set up a Joint Advisory Committee. Mansfield and the adjoining Districts have decided to form a similar Committee, and a conference of Local Authorities within the area of the Kent Coalfield have resolved in favour of the appointment of a Joint Committee for that region.

II. LOCAL GOVERNMENT AND LOCAL FINANCE.

Loans for Public Works.

LOANS SANCTIONED.

The total amount of loans for which sanctions were issued by the Department to Local Authorities in England and Wales during the year 1921-22 was £24,821,260; this amount does not include loans sanctioned for Poor Law purposes,* for housing,† or for providing temporarily

* Loans for Poor Law purposes during 1921-22 amounted to £2,283,000 sanctioned under section 3 (1) of the Local Authorities (Financial Provisions) Act, 1921, and about £350,000 for works (see pages 88 and 93 below).

† Loans for housing, raised by Local Authorities under State-aided schemes, amounted to about £152,000,000 up to the end of March, 1922 (see page 44 above).