ABSTRACT
The 1945 Distribution of Industry Act established new 'Development Areas', placing responsibility for future policy and executive action on the Board of Trade. It could build factories, reclaim sites and, on certain conditions, make loans. The most important innovation, however, was the 1947 Town and Country Planning Act, establishing a ministry of that name. New towns were to be entrusted to development corporations appointed and financed by the Minister of Town and Country Planning or the Scottish Secretary. The 1947 Agriculture Act declared that farming was to be a 'permanent' part of the national economy. A National Agricultural Advisory Service was set up in 1946, concerning itself not simply with husbandry but also with financial management and other business matters. There was new enthusiasm about agriculture and a lasting appreciation of its importance which did not prevent 'real' farmers from allowing the newly ploughed land in traditional pastoral area in northern England to revert to pasture at the first opportunity.
