Abstract
THE second report from the Select Committee on National Expenditure for the Session 1944–45 deals with the release of requisitioned land and buildings. It emphasizes the weaknesses in existing land legislation which were stressed during the debate in the House of Commons on the Requisitioned Land and War Works Bill, and shows the need for incorporating in the Bill provisions to amplify the assurances which Sir John Anderson gave to the House of Commons in that debate. An instance cited in the report of an airfield constructed on 600 acres of farm land and 260 acres of common land in the 'green belt', into which the Select Committee inquired, shows that existing legislation fails to protect common land or to provide for its reinstatement. The menace to the countryside which still persists is shown by two further examples: the Admiralty's claim to Bodmin Moor, rich in archæological interest and potentialities for research, and also an important catchment area, for use as a bombing range—since dropped—and the War Office inability to say whether the tract between the Frome River and Studland and Swanage Bays, cleared for training purposes, is to be restored to public use.
Article PDF
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Release of Requisitioned Land and Premises. Nature 155, 570–571 (1945). https://doi.org/10.1038/155570d0
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/155570d0