§ Mr. CLOUGHasked the President of the Local Government Board if he would give a list of all the town-planning schemes which have been submitted for his approval since the Housing and Town Planning Act, 1909, came into force; and if he will state which of them have received his approval, and which of them are at present being carried into effect?
§ Mr. BURNSUnder Section 54 (2) of the Housing, Town Planning, etc., Act, 1909, it is necessary for a local authority, before preparing a town planning scheme, to obtain the authority of the Local Government Board for the preparation of the 2047W scheme. Application for such authority has been made in three cases, namely:—
- (1) By the Corporation of Birmingham, in regard to an area comprising the parish of Quinton, and parts of the parishes of Harborne, Edgbaston, and Northfield (2,320 acres).
- (2) By the Corporation of Birmingham in regard to an area comprising part of the parish of Aston (1,477 acres).
- (3) By the Urban District Council of Ruislip-Northwood (about 6,000 acres).
I have given the necessary authority in respect of the case first-mentioned, and the corporation are now in a position to proceed with the preparation of a scheme to be submitted to the Board for approval. As regards the other two cases, I have caused local inquiries to be held into the applications, and my decision thereon will be given at an early date. I may add, for the information of my hon. Friend, that although the three cases above mentioned are the only cases which have reached the stage of formal application to the Board for approval of the preparation of town-planning schemes, I have information that the question of preparing such schemes is being considered by a number of local authorities, urban and rural, and numerous Conferences have taken place with the Board's officers on the subject. I have reason to suppose that in several cases the authorities are taking definite action with a view to the preparation of schemes in the near future.