| Abstract: | The Second World War brought about a dramatic increase in supportfor land-use control in urban areas primarily as a result ofthe impact of the blitz on British cities. The wartime controversyover land reform reached a climax during the second half of1944 following the publication of the Government's Town andCountry Planning Bill and the White Paper on Control of Land-Use.Up until 1945 the Labour Party supported a policy of land nationalization,but this was not included in the manifesto for the 1945 GeneralElection. This article will argue that the Labour Party abandoneda policy of land nationalization not because it feared the creationof internal divisions or damaging its electoral chances (supportfor land nationalization was anyway running high in the opinionpolls), but that it was responding to pressure from Labour localgovernment for more immediate housing and town planning reform. |
