The Planning of Britain
The announcement that Lord Reith is henceforward to be known as the Minister of Works and Planning, with all that that implies, is singularly welcome. Responsibility for town-planning will be transferred forthwith from the Ministry of Health to Lord Reith, and the Ministry of Works and Planning will be in effect the Central Planning Authority by which, subject IC existing and pending legislation, the principles of all physical reconstruction will be determined. Appositely enough, the 1940 Council (with which the name of Lord Balfour of Burleigh is particularly associated) has just issued an interesting " ground plan of Britain," consisting of some fourteen maps showing at a glance the nature of the problems demanding solution—the distribution of population, industry, raw' materials, cultivable land, roads and railways and rural solitudes. Building mug begin as soon as the war is over. Factories must be diverted back to peace purposes. Decisions must be taken about the devastated areas to be reconstructed. To be without a National Plan when that times comes, or the machinery to deal with it. would be to have missed the opportunity of a century and IC return to something worse than the old chaos. The' Utivsall, Committee stated its opinion that preparations for a National Plan should be made as soon as possible, and the Government accepted the view. It has now acted on it, and most wl'et.
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