Catalogue description Records of the Central Land Board

Following the recommendations of the Uthwatt Expert Committee on Compensation and Betterment, which had been appointed in 1941 by the Minister of Works and Buildings to analyse the problems of the payment of compensation and recovery of betterment in respect of public control of the use of land, the Central Land Board was established by the Town and Country Planning Act 1947. It was under the direction of the Minister of Town and Country Planning and, under a separate Scottish act, of the Secretary of State for Scotland.

Its duties were to assess and levy development charges on new developments of land and to administer payments out of central funds to compensate the owners of land for loss of development value occasioned by the planning restrictions imposed by the act. The board was also empowered, with ministerial approval, to acquire land by agreement or compulsory purchase and to dispose of it for development.

When planning permission was granted for a development, a development charge was payable on the enhanced value of the land. In cases of default the board could issue an order for payment, together with a penalty, enforceable as a land charge subject to appeal to one of the county courts or the High Court. Compensation for loss of land value caused by the act was limited to owners of land whose value as affected by the act was substantially less than its unrestricted value, and the total amount of compensation payable was fixed at a limit of £300 million, to be distributed in accordance with a scheme drawn up by the Treasury and approved by Parliament.

From 1950 a register of land acquired and disposed of by the board was kept, recording purchase and selling prices and stating whether it was acquired compulsorily or by agreement. The performance of the board's functions was entrusted to the War Damage Commission as an economy measure. The Valuation Office of the Board of Inland Revenue acted for it on all matters of land valuation. In 1949 the new Lands Tribunal was empowered to decide disputes concerning the determination of the development value of land.

In 1951 the board passed under the direction of the Ministry of Local Government and Planning and then of the Ministry of Housing and Local Government. The Town and Country Planning Act 1953 abolished development charges and the board's powers of compulsory purchase, and directed that no compensation payments were to be made. However, this was modified in 1954, when a further act allowed payments in certain cases where a claim under the act of 1947 had been approved.

The board was dissolved in March 1959 and its residual functions transferred to the Minister of Housing and Local Government. Controlled development through the procedure of planning permission continued, but development remained free of financial charges until the establishment of the Land Commission in 1967.