Goodbye to Development Charges
Those clauses of the Town and Country Planning Act of 1947 which provided for the transfer of the development value of land to the State were based, among other things, on sound arguments concerning the need to secure possession of land required for planning purposes. But the measures for putting these arguments into effect were so sweeping, and difficult to understand, and the discouragement to enterprise and new building so serious, that this part of the Act never seemed likely to work properly. There was also the fact that claims on the fund of £300,000,000, which was earmarked to com- pensate those who lost development value in the initial transfer, were so inflated by the demands of owners who, without having the intention to undertake any actual development, thought it Worth while to take part in the share-out of Government money, that the danger of further inflation was sensibly increased. Now all that is to be ended. In future compensation will Only be paid to those landowners who actually suffer loss of development value through planning restrictions on the use of their land. The clauses of the Act that never seemed likely to work will not be required to work, and those who had lost hope of ever understanding them will not be required to under- stand them. The compulsory acquisition of land for planning purposes will still be possible, and the owners will have to be compensated—which is just. But they will not be able to get more than the accrued development value in 1947, for all legitimate hopes of further increments after that date were officially killed by the Act. This also is just—although the justice is rough.
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