10 MAY 1946, Page 2

New Towns to Order

The Bill for the provision of a limited number of new towns, with an average population of some 50,000 each, had a smooth passage through the House of Commons on Wednesday. That was as was to be expected, and as it should be, for this is the one sane way of dealing with the inevitable reconstruction after the war. It is true that with the slowing increase of population plans for expansion should be limited, but no one desires to see the blitzed areas in towns reconstructed to house as many inhabitants as before, and in addition national schemes for the location of industry require new centres in which the industries can operate and their workers be housed. Plan- ning can easily be overdone, but a limited redistribution of the population on well-considered lines is not merely desirable but imperative.