HC Deb 12 April 1946 vol 421 cc355-6W
Sir R. Glyn

asked the Minister of Agriculture how far the Ordnance Survey have proceeded with the resurveying of Great Britain; whether it is intended to hold up the issue of the result of such survey until the whole country has been resurveyed; whether the reprinting of existing maps of the 1 inch, 6 inch and 25 inch scales, with the revised information, will be authorised: and which counties have now been dealt with in this manner

Mr. T. Williams:

Experiments in connection with the resurvey and preparatory work over a large area have been proceed- ing, and prototype plans of the new survey have been circulated to Departments and various interested authorities for inspection and comment. The design has now been standardised. Training courses for field staff are now operating and the resurvey at a scale of 1 / 1250 of certain large towns is now in hand in various stages. As an interim measure, mosaics from air photographs are being issued at the same scale.

The results of resurvey in any area will be published as soon as possible after the work is completed, and it is expected that the first of the new plans will he on sale in the near future.

The printing of revised 1-in., 6-in. and 25-in. sc ale maps is proceeding, incorporating all information available as a result of surveys, both military and civil, carried out immediately before and during the war. Where such surveys do not constitute a complete revision, the sheets are being issued as "provisional" editions. It has not been possible to prepare complete sets by counties, hut the present position is as follows:

  1. (a) 1-in. maps covering a large part of southern and eastern England and the southern half of Scotland have already been published.
  2. (b) The new provisional 6-in edition of built-up areas incorporating a hasty revision carried out for civil defence purposes in 1938, is being prepared. and over 900 of the sheets covering these areas have been published.
  3. (c) The 25-in. revision of urban areas required for the purposes of the Town and Country Planning Act, 1932, was completed before the war. A small proportion of the revised material was lost through enemy action. At the end of the war about 3,000 plans were still unpublished; of these 1,000 have now been issued to the public and the remainder are being completed at the rate of about 125 a month.