MR. SILKIN'S BILL
Sts,—In your issue of January Toth, under the heading of A Plan for Britain, you comment on the new Town and Country Planning Bill, and you very properly draw attention• to its efforts to achieve wise planning, with which few will quarrel. Under this cloak of planning, however, there is hidden a very insidious proposal to impose upon some landowners
what amounts to a capital levy of up to zoo per cent. of the value of their land. Take as an example cleared shop-sites such as exist in most growing urban areas This land is generally of considerable value in relation to its small size ; and while awaiting development it seldom has use for any other purpose. Under the Bill, such land is to be valued at its " existing use " value, which is nil ; and the whole of its real value will become pay- able as a " development charge." Such land has often been purchased at high prices, or it may have been the subject of Probate Duty on its development value. It would be a grave injustice to the owners that their property should be subject to virtual confiscation.
The provisions in the Bill for " compensation " are very misleading. Compensation as a right is denied, but some very delayed recompense may be solicited on the grounds of " hardship." As only L300,000,000 is allotted for this purpose for England, Wales and ,Scotland, and as it is only to be distributed at the whim of the Land Board, those owners who are unable to prove " hardship," or are too proud to claim what sounds like charity, will be the victims of large-scale pillage.—Yours faithfully,
ZIA North Road, Highgate Village, N.6. F. S. THOMAS.
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