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40-715: The New Towns Acts were a series of Acts of the Parliament of the United Kingdom to found new settlements or to expand substantially existing ones, to establish Development Corporations to deliver them, and to create a Commission to wind up the Corporations and take over their assets and liabilities. Of these, the more substantive acts were the New Towns Act 1946 and the Town Development Act 1952. "The New Towns Act [1946]

80-448: A white paper , which is a clear statement of intent. It is increasingly common for a small number of Government bills to be published in draft before they are presented in Parliament. These bills are then considered either by the relevant select committee of the House of Commons or by an ad hoc joint committee of both Houses. This provides an opportunity for the committee to express a view on

120-496: A "significant effect upon the pattern of urban development" in the UK. These were brief acts to increase the maximum borrowings permitted to fund the developments. An Act to make, as respects England and Wales, new provision in place of section fifteen of the New Towns Act, 1946, as to the disposal of the undertakings of development corporations and other matters arising when a development corporation has achieved or substantially achieved

160-628: A New Towns Commission to formally consider how best to repair and rebuild urban communities ravaged in World War II . In 1945, John Reith, 1st Baron Reith was appointed as chair of the New Towns Commission . The commission concluded that there was a need to construct new towns using the instrument of development corporations supported by central government. The New Towns Act 1946 cemented this vision in 1946 and New Towns were born. The Reith Commission recommended that: An Act to provide for

200-485: A few, if any, are passed each year. Parliamentary authorities maintain a list of all private bills before parliament . Hybrid bills combine elements of both public and private bill. While they propose to make changes to the general law, they also contain provisions applying to specific individuals or bodies. Recent examples are the Crossrail Bill, a hybrid bill to build a railway across London from west to east , and

240-503: A general change in the law. The only difference from other public bills is that they are brought forward by a private member (a backbencher) rather than by the government. Twenty private members' bills per session are allowed to be introduced, with the sponsoring private members selected by a ballot of the whole house, and additional bills may be introduced under the Ten Minute Rule . Financial bills raise revenue and authorise how money

280-557: A minimum consultation period of twelve weeks. Consultation documents are widely circulated (see for example the Home Office consultation on extreme pornography and the Scottish Government 's consultation on food policy ). The character of the consultation is shaped by the government's determination to press forward with a particular set of proposals. A government may publish a green paper outlining various legislative options or

320-531: A period of consultation will take place before a bill is drafted. Within government, the Treasury and other departments with an interest will be consulted along with the devolved administrations in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. Outside government, interested parties such as trade unions , industry bodies and pressure groups will be asked for their views on any proposals. The Cabinet Office Code of Practice specifies

360-409: A process of consultation, the sponsoring department will send drafting instructions to parliamentary counsel, expert lawyers working for the government responsible for writing legislation. These instructions will describe what the bill should do but not the detail of how this is achieved. The Parliamentary counsel must draft the legislation clearly to minimise the possibility of legal challenge and to fit

400-469: A specifically named locality or legal person in a manner different from all others. Private bills are "usually promoted by organisations, like local authorities or private companies, to give themselves powers beyond, or in conflict with, the general law. Private bills only change the law as it applies to specific individuals or organisations, rather than the general public. Groups or individuals potentially affected by these changes can petition Parliament against

440-418: A sub-category of private acts, which confer specific rights or duties on a named individual or individuals, for example allowing two persons to marry even though they are within a "prohibited degree of consanguinity or affinity" such as stepfather and stepdaughter. Private bills, common in the 19th century, are now rare, as new planning legislation introduced in the 1960s removed the need for many of them. Only

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480-436: Is designed to keep the business of government and public affairs up to date. These bills may not be substantial or controversial in party political terms. Two sub-classes of the housekeeping bill are consolidation bills , which set out existing law in a clearer and more up-to-date form without changing its substance; and the tax law rewrite bills , which do the same for tax law. An Act of Parliament will often confer power on

520-791: Is spent. The best-known such bills are the normally annual Finance Bills introduced by the Chancellor of the Exchequer in the Budget . This usually encompasses all the changes to be made to tax law for the year. Its formal description is "a Bill to grant certain duties, to alter other duties, and to amend the law relating to the National Debt and the Public Revenue, and to make further provision in connection with finance". Consolidated Fund and Appropriation Bills authorise government spending. This type of bill

560-507: The 1976 Aircraft and Shipbuilding Industries Bill , which was a particularly controversial bill that was ruled to be a hybrid bill, forcing the government to withdraw some of its provisions to allow its passage as a public bill. Once passed, hybrid bills are printed as part of the public general acts. Parliamentary authorities maintain a list of all hybrid bills before parliament . It is important not to confuse private bills with private members' bills, which are public bills intended to effect

600-702: The Deputy Prime Minister (acting as Environment Minister) removed planning from local control and appointed them as the statutory planning authority. It was a non-departmental public body funded through the Department for Communities and Local Government (CLG), and was previously by the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister (the predecessor department to CLG). English Partnerships was legally two entirely independent bodies set up under separate statutes. One

640-603: The King in Council , a minister , or another public body to create delegated legislation, usually by means of a statutory instrument . Bills may start their passage in either the House of Commons or House of Lords , although bills which are mainly or entirely financial will start in the Commons. Each bill passes through the following stages: Although not strictly part of the legislative process,

680-1093: The Scottish Development Agency and the Highlands and Islands Development Board with Scottish Enterprise and Highlands and Islands Enterprise , and authorised development of further new towns in Scotland. This act establishes sub-committees of the Commission for New Towns, with authority to act on matters proper to them. The following towns were created under various New Towns Acts: Act of Parliament (UK) King Charles III [REDACTED] William, Prince of Wales [REDACTED] Charles III ( King-in-Council ) [REDACTED] Starmer ministry ( L ) Keir Starmer ( L ) Angela Rayner ( L ) ( King-in-Parliament ) [REDACTED] Charles III [REDACTED] [REDACTED] [REDACTED] The Lord Reed The Lord Hodge Andrew Bailey Monetary Policy Committee An Act of Parliament in

720-692: The United Kingdom is primary legislation passed by the UK Parliament in Westminster , London . An Act of Parliament can be enforced in all four of the UK constituent countries ( England , Scotland , Wales and Northern Ireland ). As a result of devolution the majority of acts that are passed by Parliament increasingly only apply either to England and Wales only, or England only. Generally acts only relating to constitutional and reserved matters now apply to

760-523: The 1946 act and was replaced in turn by the 1981 act. Since most of the acts did not apply to Northern Ireland (and some not to Scotland), an equivalent act was passed in 1965 by the Parliament of Northern Ireland . Following the act, Craigavon was designated in July 1965. The New Towns (Scotland) Act 1968 established equivalent legal powers in Scotland. These acts "increase the limit imposed by section 43 of

800-454: The Commission for the New Towns the task of "taking over, holding, managing and turning to account the property previously vested in the development corporation for a new town". Several new towns were created in the years following its passing. Its most immediate use was the designation of Milton Keynes in 1967, which was envisaged to become a "new city" of 250,000 people. The 1965 act replaced

840-533: The Lords. They will check the following: After this process, the bill is then ready for introduction. Commission for New Towns It was responsible for land acquisition and assembly and major development projects, alone or in joint partnership with private sector developers. It was particularly active in major regeneration areas such as the Thames Gateway and in expansion areas such as Milton Keynes , where

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880-399: The New Towns Act 1965 on the amounts which may be borrowed by development corporations and the Commission for the New Towns". Among other functions, this act provided for "the interest of the Commission for the New Towns and [the] development corporations in dwellings and of any associated property, rights, liabilities and obligations" to be transferred to district councils. This act amended

920-501: The Scotland act of 1968, notably to include the option to cancel a new town proposal. The New Towns Act 1981 is an "Act to consolidate certain enactments relating to new towns and connected matters, being (except for section 43 of the New Towns Act 1965 and sections 126 and 127 of the Local Government, Planning and Land Act 1980 and certain related provisions) enactments which apply only to England and Wales." This act replaced

960-586: The bill and propose amendments before it is introduced. Draft bills allow more lengthy scrutiny of potential legislation and have been seen as a response to time pressures which may result in the use of programme orders to impose a strict timetable on the passage of bills and what is known as 'drafting on the hoof', where the government introduces amendments to its own bills. With increased time for scrutiny backed up with considered evidence, draft bills may present governments with difficulty in getting their way. The sponsoring government department will then write to

1000-512: The bill in with existing UK, European Union and delegated legislation. A finished bill must be approved or scrutinised by the sponsoring department and minister, parliamentary counsel and LP. The final stage is the submission of the bill to the authorities of the House in which it is to start its legislative journey. In the Commons, this is the Clerk of Legislation and the Public Bill Office in

1040-408: The building of new cities ... planned as cities from their first foundation, and not mere small towns and villages. ... A time will arrive when something of this sort must be done ... England cannot escape from the alternative of new city building. The New Towns Act 1965 substantially rewrote and consolidated the 1946 act. While continuing the authority to establish further new towns, the act gives

1080-486: The creation of new towns by means of development corporations, and for purposes connected therewith. The New Towns Act 1946 ( 9 & 10 Geo. 6 . c. 68) was the act that put into law the conclusions of the New Towns Commission. ") The act authorised the government to designate areas as new towns , and passing development control functions to a New Town Development Corporation . Several new towns were created in

1120-440: The largest category of legislation, in principle affecting the public general law applying to everyone across the entire United Kingdom, or at least to one or more of its constituent countries of England , Northern Ireland , Scotland , or Wales . Most public general acts proceed through Parliament as a public bill. Occasionally a bill is treated as hybrid . Private acts are either local or personal in their effect, applying to

1160-511: The matters aforesaid. The New Towns Act 1959 established the Commission for New Towns . Under this Act, "the Minister of Housing and Local Government was authorised to set up a Commission on New Towns to take over the functions of the development corporations whose purposes had, in his opinion, been achieved or substantially achieved". It may startle some political economists to talk of commencing

1200-765: The problems caused by the decline of heavy industries such as shipbuilding and coalmining" On 17 January 2007 Ruth Kelly , the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government , announced proposals to bring together the delivery functions of the Housing Corporation , English Partnerships and parts of CLG to form a new unified housing and regeneration agency, the Homes and Communities Agency (initially announced as "Communities England"); this became operational on 1 December 2008. This article about an organisation in England

1240-757: The proposed bill and present their objections to committees of MPs and Lords." They include acts to confer powers on certain local authorities, a recent example being the Canterbury City Council Bill, which makes provisions relating to street trading and consumer protection in the city. Private bills can also affect certain companies: the Northern Bank Bill allowed the statutory right of Northern Bank to issue bank notes to be transferred to Danske Bank which had acquired it. Other private bills may affect particular companies established by Act of Parliament such as TSB Bank and Transas. Personal acts are

New Towns Acts - Misplaced Pages Continue

1280-440: The purposes for which it is established; to amend the law relating to development corporations by increasing the limit on the advances which may be made to them under sub section (1) of section twelve of that Act, by providing for housing subsidies to be wholly or partly withheld in respect of dwellings disposed of by them, and by authorising them to make contributions towards the provision of amenities; and for purposes connected with

1320-482: The relevant policy committee of the Cabinet. The proposals are only discussed at a meeting if disagreements arise. Even an uncontroversial proposal may face administrative hurdles. A potential change in the law may have to wait for a more extensive bill in that policy area to be brought forward before it is worthwhile devoting parliamentary time to it. The proposal will then be bundled together with more substantive measures in

1360-399: The relief of congestion or over-population elsewhere, and for related purposes, [etc]". It was this act that enabled London County Council to establish its overspill estates as far away as Cornwall and Northamptonshire . By 1973, over 40 new and expanded towns were described in Parliament as "London overspill". The Act, despite being "obscure and almost forgotten", is credited as having

1400-480: The same Bill. The Ministerial Committee on the Legislative Programme (LP), including the leaders and government chief whips in both houses, is responsible for the timetable of legislation. This committee decides which house a bill will start in, recommends to the Cabinet which proposals will be in the King's Speech , which will be published in draft and how much parliamentary time will be required. Following

1440-410: The whole of the United Kingdom . A draft piece of legislation is called a bill . When this is passed by Parliament and given royal assent , it becomes an act and part of statute law . Acts of Parliament are classified as either "public general acts" or "local and personal acts" (also known as "private acts"). Bills are also classified as "public", "private", or "hybrid". Public general acts form

1480-532: The years following its passing. The Act was replaced by the New Towns Act 1965 and, later, the New Towns Act 1981 . The act set up development corporations which were responsible for the management, design and development of New Towns. These were public corporations financed by the government through Treasury loans . The boards were appointed by central government; importantly, they were given planning and compulsory purchase order powers. Their first task

1520-612: Was intended to pre-emptively direct urban growth and infrastructural development into new towns, thereby decentralising population and economic opportunity while inhibiting urban sprawl ." New Towns were developed in three generations. By 2002, about 2 million people were housed in the New Towns, in about 500,000 homes. The 1944 Abercrombie Plan for London proposed eight new towns within 50 miles (80 km) of London for up to 500,000 people from inner London. Similar recommendations were made for other major conurbations including Manchester and Birmingham. The 1945 Attlee Government set up

1560-689: Was the Commission for New Towns , launched in October 1961, which was responsible for the development corporations established by the New Towns Act 1959. The other was the Urban Regeneration Agency set up by the Leasehold Reform, Housing and Urban Development Act 1993. The URA originated as the English Industrial Estates Corporation, which was "established in 1936 as North Eastern Trading Estates Ltd to help to alleviate

1600-420: Was to draw up development frameworks for a mix of housing, offices, industrial development, transport infrastructure and open space. Although not formally a "New Towns Act", the Town Development Act uses the powers established by the 1946 Act to expand existing towns to achieve the same or similar purposes. The introduction to the act gives its purpose: "An Act to encourage town development in county districts for

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