When was the New Towns Act?

• A. 1936
• B. 1956
• C. 1966
• D. 1946

Answer: (D)

The question tests your recall of when Britain first established a formal framework to build new towns after the war to handle housing shortages. The New Towns Act was passed in nineteen forty-six, creating the legal means for the government to designate land, acquire it, and set up development bodies to plan and build new towns. This act was the starting point for the postwar new towns program, a key step in reconstruction and housing policy, and it predates the Town and Country Planning Act of nineteen forty-seven, which expanded planning broadly. So nineteen forty-six is the correct year.