Catalogue description Expert Committee on Compensation and Betterment (Uthwatt Committee): Minutes and Papers

The Committee was set up by the Minister of Works and Buildings in 1941 under the chairmanship of Mr Justice Uthwatt "to make an objective analysis of the subject of the payment of compensation and recovery of betterment in respect of public control of the use of land: to advise, as a matter of urgency, what steps should be taken now or before the end of the war to prevent the work of reconstruction thereafter being prejudiced. In this connection the Committee are asked to consider:-

a. possible means of stabilising the value of land acquired for re-development, and

b. any extension or modification of powers to enable such land to be acquired by the public on an equitable basis; to examine the merits and de-merits of the methods considered, and to advise what alterations of the existing law would be necessary to enable them to be adopted".

The records in this series consist of both published and unpublished material submitted in evidence, papers circulated to members and minutes of meetings.