Catalogue description Ministry of Housing and Local Government and Department of the Environment: Control of Office Development, South East Region: Registered Files (COD/SE Series).

Control of office development was originally imposed by Part 1 of the Control of Office and Industrial Development Act 1965. This Act followed a White Paper of November 1964 promising action to relieve physical concentration, secure better distribution of employment, make better use of scarce resources, provide a better environment, and relieve pressure on the building industry. The Act required planning applications for office development in excess of a prescribed limit (in those parts of the country subject to the control) to be controlled by an Office Development Permit (ODP). The control was originally introduced as a temporary (seven year) measure and was first applied to the London area in 1964 (prior to the enactment of the legislation).

In 1965 control was extended to the Birmingham conurbation, the rest of the South-East Economic Planning Region, the East and West Midlands and East Anglia. In 1969 control was lifted from East Anglia and the rural areas of the Midlands, and in 1970, following a change of Government, the rest of the Midlands.

The provisions of the Act were consolidated into the Town and Country Planning Act 1971 (sections 73-86). The powers of control were renewed for a further five years under s.5 of the Town and Country Planning (Amendment) Act 1972 and extended for another five years by the Control of Development Act 1977. Legislative control ended in August 1979. Responsibility for the exercise of the control was originally exercised by the Board of Trade, but in October 1969 this was passed to the Ministry of Housing and Local Government and thence to the Department of the Environment in November 1970.