CHAPTER III

DEVELOPMENT PLAN

The subject of town planning demands knowledge of various professions,

especially those of engineering, architecture and surveying. The town should not be
designed only to satisfy the needs of the future generation. But the town planner
should conceive the probable growth and development of the town and it should be
seen that town does not develop in any haphazard fashion.
Some of the guiding principles are as follows
1. Green belt
2. Housing
3. Public buildings
4. Recreation centres
5. Road systems
6. Transport facilities
7. Zoning

1. Green Belt:
The provision of green belt on the periphery of a town results in the limitation
of size and hence the final size of the town can well be anticipated.

2. Housing:
There should not be development of slums and further if slums exist, they are
cleared by the provision of some alternative arrangement. Extreme care should be
taken to provide housing accommodation to various categories of people.

3. Public Buildings:
There should be well-balanced grouping and distribution of various public
buildings throughout the town. Unnecessary concentration of public buildings at
certain spots of the town should be avoided.

4. Recreation Centres:
Depending upon the size of the town, enough space should be reserved for the
development as recreation centre for the general public.

1
5. Road Systems:
The efficiency of any town is measured by the layout of its roads. A nicely
designed road system puts a great impression in the minds of people, especially the
visitors to the town. The provision of faulty road system in the initial stages of town
formation proves to be too difficult and costly to repair or to re-arrange in future.

6. Transport Facilities:
Suitable transport facilities should be provided so that there is minimum loss
of time from place of work to the place of residence.

7. Zoning
The town should be divided into suitable zones such as commercial zone,
industrial zone, residential zone etc., and suitable rules and regulations should be
formed for the development of each zone.

NECESSITY OF TOWN PLANNING:

A small house well arranged and planned, looks far better than a disordered
big palace. In a similar way a town that is properly planned affords more comforts and
convenience to the public.

The necessity of town planning can very well be appreciated by mentioning

the evil situations, which a town has to face in the absence of town planning.

1. Defective road system resulting in the formation of narrow streets and lanes.
2. Development of slums.
3. Haphazard location of industries.
4. Heavy traffic congestion during the working hours of the day.
5. Inadequate open spaces for parks and playgrounds.
6. Lack of essential amenities like electricity, water supply and drainage.
7. Noisy atmosphere.

FORMS OF PLANNING:
To maintain the continuity in the planning process, the following forms of
planning are to be considered.
1. Local planning
2. Country planning

2
 3. Regional planning
4. National planning
5. International planning.

1. Local Planning
The development plan of a city or a town is prepared by keeping in view the
local conditions, It aims at proper distribution of population densities, regulation of
traffic, location of shopping and recreation centres, provision of green belt, suitable
division of the area into various zones etc. It is quite evident that local planning will
be greatly influenced by economic conditions and finance available for the
development of the town.
2. Country Planning
The area surrounding a town cannot be allowed to develop in a haphazard
way. Generally a town is surrounded by villages and rural planning becomes
necessary for the proper functioning of the town. For this purpose, surrounding
villages should be linked up with suitable transport facilities and wherever possible,
encouragement should be given for the growth of village -industries such as dairy,
poultry farming, basket and rope making, weaving on manually operated looms etc.

If possible the rural industry may even be supplemented by mechanical aids.

A proper balance between the agriculture and industry should be maintained without
disturbing the character .of rural area. It should be remembered that country planning
and town planning are complementary to each other and they cannot be treated as two
independent separate entities.

3. Regional Planning
The term regional planning is used to include proposals in a region for the
distribution of population and industry, transport facilities, rural services, village
industries etc. A town or city cannot be isolated from its surrounding region Hence,
regional planning helps in controlling and reshaping the growth of major towns in the
region

The term „REGION‟ is generally used to define areas separated not merely or
exclusively by natural boundaries, but equally by political or administrative
boundaries. In general, a region may be defined as an area within which interaction is
more intense than its interaction with other areas and the modern practice is to
embrace the following in the regional planning
 Agriculture regions
 Industrial areas
 Large hydro-electric power projects
3
  Resort and recreational areas and
 Sub-urban zones of large cities

4. National Planning:
The term national planning suggests the setting up of the planning procedure
on a national level and it takes in to consideration the potentialities in various fields of
nation as a whole. By proper and careful national planning, the resources of a nation
can be utilised in the best possible manner. Our various five year plans serve as an
illustration of national planning.
National planning can be visualised in different ways as follows: -
1. Development of nation in terms of its administrative or political system.
2. Developments at various levels in an hierarchic order either from top level to
bottom level or vice versa i.e. from international level to local level or local
level to international level.
3. Development in terms of various economic sectors such as agriculture, fishing,
forestry, mining, quarrying etc.,
4. Development in terms of various social sectors such as clothing, housing,
food, education, health, employment, recreation etc.,
5. International Planning:
With the establishment of United Nations Organisation (UNO), international
planning has come into existence and efforts are made at international level to
promote goodwill and co-operation between different countries of the world. Various
agencies are appointed by UNO to conduct surveys in various fields of human life
such as education, health, housing, food etc. The study of such surveys helps in
finding out remedies and solutions of complicated problems at an international level.

REGIONAL PLANNING

Introduction:
Regional planning is a comprehensive planning dealing with physical,
economical and geographical aspects. Regional planning is based on the fact that the
fairly well developed cities cannot be considered in isolation of the region around
them, as they depend very much upon each other to mutual advantage and an
integrated development has to be aimed at between the two. This is more particularly
so, because many existing cities are over crowded and dispersal of population and
industry is necessary.

The idea of regional development is originated in Russia, led by Stalin. Stalin

wanted to develop each economic region of soviet Russia in such a way that in the
event of an invasion, the occupation of any region by the capitalist powers might not
4
cripple the economic power of the country. So strategic considerations promoted
Stalin to develop all regions equally. In England during the Second world war, which
led to the dispersal of industries, attention was focused on the development of back
ward areas.

The aims of regional planning are to maintain the balance of population and
industry, nationalisation of transport services and routes and securing proper
distribution of service facilities. Further it suggests broad attempt to reduce the social
and economical imbalance between the urban and rural areas and between different
parts of the country.

REGION:
A region in general sense is an area of land possessing characteristics, which
makes it readily identifiable entity. These characteristics may be of‟ physical,
economical or social conditions of‟ that area.

A region may be of different sizes. A region for planning purpose should be an

area which is large enough to enable substantial changes in the distribution of
population, employment and land use to take wholly with its boundaries, yet which is
small enough for its planning problems to be comprehended as a whole.

CLASSIFICATION OF REGIONS:
The regions are of various types, depending upon the basis or the criteria used
for delineation.
a. Physical Region:
Identified by physical characteristics of land such as landform, climate soil,
vegetation etc.

b. Economic Region:
Identified by the economic activities such as location, processing, production
or distribution of resources.

c. Social Region:
Identified by the socio-cultural characteristics like language etc.

d. Administrative Region:
Based on administrative boundaries.

5
e. Adhoc Region:
Identified by certain specific purpose such as the development of water
resources, mineral resources etc.

In addition to the above regions, the following classifications are also

considered.
1. Metropolitan or City Region:
Identification by a regional capital of states or metropolis.
2. River Valley Region:
Identification by river basins consisting of a system or rivers, catchment areas.
3. Axial Development Region:
Identification by areas consisting of transportation lines or irrigation channels.
4. Transitional or Depressed Region:
Identification by regions lying in between the growth centres like agricultural
areas in India.
The regional plan may propose or provide for all or any of the following
matters namely.
 The manner in which the land in the region shall be used and in particular, the
general locations of land and the extent to which the land may be used for
residential, industrial, commercial, agricultural and recreational purposes or as
forest or for mineral exploitation.
 The identification of urban and rural growth centres and new town sites.
 Transport and communications such as roads, highways, waterways, railways,
canals and airports including their development.
 Water supply, drainage, sewage disposal and other public utilities, amenities
and services including electricity and gas.
 Demarcation, conservation and development of areas of natural scenic beauty,
forest, wild life, natural resources and land scaping.
 Demarcation of objects and buildings of archaeological and historical interest
of natural beauty or actually used for religious purposes.
 Areas required for military and defence purpose.
 Prevention of soil erosion, provision for afforestation, improvement and
redevelopment of water front areas, rivers and lakes.
 Irrigation, water supply and hydroelectric works, flood control and prevention
of river pollution.

MASTER PLAN

6
Objects:
1. It aims at intelligent and economic spending of the public funds for achieving
welfare of the inhabitants in respect of amenity, convenience and health.
2. It arranges the pattern of a town in such a way so as to satisfy the present
requirements without introduction of future improvements by the coming
generations.
3. It helps in restricting haphazard and unplanned growth.
4. It places various functions that a town has to perform in physical relationship
of each other so as to avoid chances of mutual conflict. It removes the defects
of uncoordinated physical growth of the various components of a town due to
the fact that it considers the entire city area or town as planning and
development entity.
5. It serves as a guide to the planning body for making any recommendations for
public improvement.

Necessity:
1. To control the development of various industries in a systematic way.
2. To discourage the growth of town in an unplanned and unscientific way.
3. To give a perspective picture of a fully developed town.
4. To limit to a certain extent the unprecedented flow of rural population to urban
area.
5. To offset the evils which have come up due to over crowding of population
such as acute shortage of houses, traffic congestion, inadequate open spaces
and insufficiency in public amenities etc.

Data to be Collected:
1. Details of trades and industries
2. Development of airports
3. Economic conditions of the authority
4. Environments of site
5. Facilities of transport
6. Geological conditions of the site
7. Land values and land use pattern
8. Locations of spots of natural beauty
9. Locations of water supply units
10. Meteorological details such as intensity and direction of wind, temperature,
rainfall etc.
7
 11. Mineral resources
12. Places of historic origin
13. Political position of the surrounding area
14. Population
15. Requirements for railway stations, goods yards and shipping facilities
16. Special requirements for powerhouses, gas works, sewage disposal plant and
storm water drainage etc.

Drawings to be Prepared:
1. Boundaries of land of different types such as residential, agricultural,
industrial etc.
2. Boundary of green belt surrounding the town
3. Contours of the whole city
4. Locations of public buildings and town centers
5. Open spaces including parks and play grounds
6. Positions of natural springs, rivers and streams
7. Road systems
8. Positions of public utility services such as water supply station, sewage
disposal plant, power plant etc.

In addition to the drawings, perspective views, panoramas, models etc. should

also accompany the project drawings, when found necessary. Also, if required, the
micro seismic zoning map, location plan of architectural and cultural monuments,
designs of town centres etc. may also be prepared as additional documents of the
usual drawings of the master plan.

Features of Master Plan:

The master plan serves as an outline for the future growth of town and as such
its preparation demands high skill, training, imagination and experience on the part of
person who frames it. He has always to keep before his mind the three fundamental
requirements namely amenity, convenience and health. He has to so arrange his plan
that these needs are satisfied in the fullest possible measure.

It is a very difficult task to achieve all the three requirements simultaneously.

At times, it may happen that the proposals for satisfying one of the requirements may
come in to conflict with those of other requirements. It then becomes necessary for
the town planner to proceed further on trial and error basis and ultimately to arrive at

8
a reasonable solution by making adjustments and compromises between conflicting
situations.
The features to be included in a master plan of a town can be listed as follows: -
1. Convenient and cheap means of transport
2. Good sanitation and water supply
3. Open air spaces
4. Population density control
5. Proper situations for places of worship, education and recreation
6. Rational lay-out
7. Width of roads etc.

Planning Standards
Land is a gift of nature and it cannot be manufactured, as its demand increases.
Hence, the land-use pattern should be carefully laid out by the town planner by
keeping in mind various features of the area to be developed, such as soil conditions,
topography, vegetation, habit of people, industrial and commercial activities etc.

The term planning standard is used to fix the minimum area for each use for a
certain land area. These minimum standards are fixed for a particular locality by
studying the functional requirements, number of users, open spaces required around
the buildings, social and climatic condition, economic activities of the• locality etc.
The planning standards are fixed for various types of uses such as: -
1. Educational facilities such as primary school, high school and college.
2. Medical facilities such as dispensary, health centre and hospital.
3. Shopping facilities such as departmental stores, shops etc.
4. Miscellaneous amenities such as burial ground, cinema, crematorium,
auditorium, stadium, petrol filling cum service station, police station, post
office, fire station, library, community hall, telephone exchange etc.
5. Width of roads such as village roads, state roads, national highways etc.
6. Development of land for the construction of buildings in the form of various
building bye-laws etc.
The planning or enforcing authority should carefully watch the planning
standards and they may be reviewed and revised to meet with the changing
conditions. Thus the enforcing authority and regulations play a significant role in
achieving the desired goal of town planning.

Report:

9
 The written report accompanying the master plan should analyse the existing
state of the town and it should include the following topics to suggest the
improvement of town in general.
1. Cost estimates for immediate measures
2. Development of basic industries in urban and suburban zones
3. Engineering infrastructure, site development, sanitation and hygienic
measures.
4. Functional zoning and architectural principles involved in the town plan.
5. Pattern of highways and urban transportation.
6. Population growth for a designing period and the first stage of construction.
7. Principles underlying organisation of culture-service system and other types of
services accommodated in the master plan.
8. Technical and economic factors of the project; etc.

Stages of Preparation
The procedure to be followed in the preparation of a Master plan for a town is
quite lengthy and takes considerable time as many factors and legal formalities are to
be observed. However, for convenience various stages of preparation of a master plan
can be summarized as follows: -
1. Collection of data and relevant information from civic survey and other
sources.
2. Preparation of a tentative draft of the master plan and notifying the same for
comments, suggestions and discussions from experts and the public.
3. Considerations of views received from experts and the public with sympathy
and without any prejudice.
4. Preparation of the revised master plan accommodating the good aspects of
comments received from experts and the public.
5. Determination of the sequence in which the master plan will be implemented.

Methods of Execution:
The Municipal or Corporation authorities carry out the execution of the master
plan. Every new public improvement proposed, should fit in the master plan. The first
thing to be determined is the layout of the road system. Once that is finalized,
regulations may be made for preventing any building to be built which will upset the
street pattern. The improvement work in a master plan can be carried out without
affecting the continuity of the project and the progress from part to the whole
becomes natural and satisfactory.

10
 It thus becomes easy to divide the proposals of master plan in various stages
and the stages thus prepared can be arranged in order of preference of the execution of
the master plan.
DETAILED DEVELOPMENT PLAN
This can also be called as “Action Area Plan‟. These plans are prepared for 5
to 10 years of period. This plan includes the following aspects.
1. The laying out or relaying out of land either vacant or already built up as
building sites.
2. The construction, diversion, extension, alteration, improvement of lanes,
streets, roads and communication system.
3. The construction, alteration, removal or demolition of buildings, bridges and
other structures.
4. The acquisition or exchange of land or any other immovable properties within
the area included in the detailed developed plan.
5. The re-distribution of boundaries and reconstitution of plots belonging to
owners of properties.
6. The allotment or reservation of land for archaeological or historical interest.

STRUCTURE PLAN:
Structure plan is a policy document concerned with the medium to long- term
development of an area. It may be prepared for a country or large or important urban
area, formulating policy and general proposals. It is a conceptual plan.

Structure plan relates to the social, economical and physical system of an area,
so far as they are subjected to planning control or influence. It is the planning frame
work of an area including the distribution of population, the activity and the relation
between them, the pattern of land use and the developments, the activities create
together with the network of communications and the system of utility services.

The structural plan shall comprise three elements. A strategy for physical
growth, means by which the location of development can be influenced, a series of
sectoral development policies, projects and programmes.

In structural plan for each and every piece of: land identified, detailed
planning is not needed. It may be more appropriate to divert attention to areas where
there are acute problems. It is not rigid as master plan.

11
 In the structure plan broad out lines or policy regards to socio-economic
activity, land use etc. will be specified. It can be treated as a skeleton plan where only
guidelines for development and conservation will be indicated.

BETTERMENT AND COMPENSATION

When a town planning scheme for an existing town is framed, some owners of
the property will be injuriously affected and have to be paid some amount as
compensation. In the same way, some owners of the property will be benefited by the
proposed town planning scheme. The share of increase in value of the properties of
such owners to be paid to the planning authority is known as betterment. The share is
fixed as percentage, usually 50 percent of the assessed increase in the value of the
property affected.
If the same owner has a claim for compensation in one respect and betterment
in other respect of the scheme, the betterment is offset or partly offset against the
claim of compensation.
The procedure for arriving at the figure of betterment is as folIows
1. The value of the property before the notification of the town planning scheme
is worked out.
2. The value of the property on the completion of the town planning scheme is
estimated.
3. The difference between these two indicates the unearned increase in value of
the property due to the proposed town planning scheme.
4. The owner and the planning authority share this unearned profit.
In other words, the owner has to surrender 50% of increase in value of his
property to the planning authority in the form of betterment.

It has been found in practice that it takes a lot of time and many legal
formalities are to be observed before finalizing the town planning schemes. The main
difficulties are:
1. It is very difficult to ascertain with accuracy the area improved in value by the
provision of certain work or provision in the planning scheme.
2. It is very difficult to prove that the increase in values of the properties are only
due to the town planning scheme and not due to other factors such as over all
development of the area, transport facilities etc.
3. The fact that in case of betterment proceedings, the owner has to make
payment induces him to make all the efforts to bring down betterment to the
minimum possible extent.

It is thus seen that the owner of lands, which are acquired for non-profit
making use under the town plan, are to be compensated and owners of lands who are

12
benefited by town plan are to be taxed. This compensation is payable and betterment
is collected. In the strict economic sense, town planning merely redistributes land
values and does not alter them overall.

Hence in theory, compensation and betterment should balance each other. In

practice such is not the case and the public expenditure on a town planning scheme is
usually governed by the difference of betterment to be collected and the compensation
to be paid.

CONCEPT OF NEIGHBOURHOOD PLANNING

Introduction:
When prehistoric men found land, which would support them in relative safety
and comparative performance, they found towns. Mutual aim in times of danger and
co-operative towards a general improvement in their living conditions encourages the
development of the city. People realized that they could create more things for
themselves by working together than they could do individually. Being a social entity,
a man seeks the companionship of his fellowmen. A man‟s home is his castle. This is
true whether the castle is the traditional single family, detached dwelling or a modern
apartment high in the sky. It is true the most uncut grass, a fleet of scooters, tri-cycles,
etc., surrounds even the castle but most of the families and individuals do not live
entirely within their castles. They live on a street in a neighbourhood.

What makes a neighbourhood? Not only the residents, neighbourhood

provides an orderly arrangement of all those facilities, which are to be stood in
common by the residents. Schools, churches, parks and business centres, the streets,
forms part of the neighbourhood as well as the individually arranged residents. Letter
carriers, milk delivery people, police officers are a few of the inhabitants who work in
the neighborhood but do not live there. A man may live in his castle, but he does not
live alone. So it is a general tendency of all human beings to be friendly with
neighbour and to share their interests.
Definition of Neighbourhood
One of the earliest authorities to attempt a definition of the neighbourhood in
fairly specific terms was CLARENCE. A. PERRY. Although opinions differ to some
degree, the definition he set forth in the „Regional Survey‟ of New York and its
Environs‟, 1929, is still a valid statement.

Perry described the neighbourhood unit as the populated area, which would
require and support an elementary school with an enrolment of between 1,000 and
1,200 pupils. This would mean a population of between 3,000 and 12,000 people.
Developed as a low-density dwelling district with population density of 10 families
per acre, the neighbourhood unit would occupy about 160 acres and have a shape,
which would render it unnecessary for any child to walk a distance of more than half
13
mile to school. About 10 per cent of the area would be allocated to recreation and
thorough traffic arteries would be confined to the surrounding street, internal streets
being limited to service access for residents of the neighbourhood. The unit would be
served by shopping facilities, religious places, a library and a community centre, the
later being located in conjunction with the school.

Principle of Neighbourhood
The internal planning within a neighbourhood should provide for an orderly
arrangement of all those facilities, which are to be stood in common by the residents.
Also it runs through all the considerations for social, physical and political
organisation of the city. It represents a unit of the population with basic common
needs for education, recreational and other service facilities and it is the standard for
these facilities from which the size and design of a neighbourhood energy.

CLARENCE A.PERRY formulated six principles that summarize the main

features of the plan

Size: A residential unit development should provide housing for that

population for which an elementary school is ordinarily required, its actual size
depending upon its population density.
Boundaries: The unit should be bounded on all sides by arterial street,
sufficiently wide to facilitate its by-passing, instead of penetration, by thorough
traffic.
Institution sites:
Sites for the school and other institutions having service sphere coinciding
with the limits of the unit should be suitably grouped about a central point. The
location of such institutions should form a nucleus for the development of the local
social life of the neighbourhood unit.
Open spaces:
Small parks and recreational spaces should be provided to meet the needs of
the neighborhood.
Local shops
One or more shopping districts, adequate for the population to be served,
should be laid out in the circumference of the unit, preferably, at traffic junctions and
adjacent to similar districts of adjoining neighbourhood.

Internal Street system:

The unit should be provided with a special street system, each highway being
proportioned to its probable traffic load and the street not as a whole being designed
to facilitate circulation within the unit and to discourage its use by thorough traffic.
14
The width of interior streets of the unit should be just sufficient to serve a specific
purpose and these streets should give easy access to shop and community centres.

Importance of Neighbourhood
Neighbourhood planning can make a valuable contribution towards the
creation of community spirit and a properly balanced structure. Neighbourhood
planning aims at welding various elements of social and cultural life of a community
in a proper order. It should however be remembered, that mere neighbourhood
planning will not ensure development on the part of members of neighbourhood unit.

Merits and Demerits of Neighbourhood

All the skill must be needed to make the neighbourhood economical and
efficient for one or another class of its residents considering their numbers, ages,
sexes, service needs and recreational tastes of the population. And also conflicts of
interests and the taste among the politicians, bureaucrats and public investors.
One of the outstanding advantages of the neighbourhood unit is its adaptability
to the idea that the city dweller would have an opportunity to influence the shape of
the institutions that structure his life.

The quality of a neighbourhood is enhanced when it is organised so that its

members may find elsewhere an opportunity to do things that contribute to a good life
that is: (1) convenient transportation facilities should be established, (2) It suggests
that a neighbourhood must co-operate with adjacent neighbourhood in order to secure
educational or other facilities needed by all.

Race, colour or religion should not of themselves bar participation in any faces
of neighbourhood life.
A neighbourhood centre may take various forms perhaps the most orthodox is
an architecturally pleasing groups of separate facilities, an elementary school, a public
library, a park and recreational buildings located near the centre. Such a school may
be used for adult recreational and educational activities and might even house the
public library.

With the more „social‟ of those services the work involves diverse kinds of
thought and argument, should we care for small children, rely chiefly on more
comprehensive educational campus? Should we care for small children rely chiefly on
home sharing or on special centre? It is not always practicable to leave each of those
questions to its relevant profession; first because many of them need co-operation
with each other and a second because the professions are self interested parties. As
mentioned before, planners can reconcile some of quantitative surveying and
forecasting, straightforward technical skills, argument about types and priorities of

15
services and plenty of art and politics. In an area of existing development which has
strong sense of social homogeneity this can be preserved after redevelopment which
takes a considerable time.

The neighbourhood is sometimes treated by unimaginative local planning

authorities as merely as statistical device, a cartogram area of roughly the right size
for a neighbourhood over which density calculations are worked out but with its
boundaries drawn in complete disregard of physical, functional and social boundaries.

SUMMARY
From the above concepts of neighbourhood we can say that the nucleared
settlement based on neighbourhood should not be interpreted to mean and every urban
functions would be located near the neighbourhood. Neighbourhood consists of
certain social aspects like focus in neighbourhood life, face to face transactions
between people who live close together, it is always best to have a neighbourhood
close together; and also equi-distance from the centre. Shopping districts in periphery
at traffic junctions. Interior streets need not be wider than required for specific use.
The common objective of a neighbourhood is the maintenance of living environment
suit to nature and desires of the people who are a part of it.
RESIDENTIAL PLANNING OBJECTIVES:
The objective of basic residential planning is to visualize how future residents will
have to live and then to provide dwellings, streets and facilities best suited to their
desires, activity patterns. The final physical product of residential development is the
dwelling unit, or a site for such unit.

Formerly it was enough to provide a site and access, but now, the land buyers
are interested in total environment; streets, walk ways, landscaping, parks,
playground, schools and shopping facilities. So the objective of a planner is to
maximize such factors in a systematic manner.

NEIGHBOURHOOD CONCEPT
The neighbourhood concept formulated by Clarence A Perry in 1929 has
influenced modern residential land planning. His concept was that the unit for
residential land planning should be the service area of high school, shopping,
recreational facilities and other civic amenities.

The definition of a residential neighbourhood may be quoted as follows: Any

group of dwelling units which by character, physical separation, or other attribute
causes the inhabitants to have separate identity; hopefully with pride or at least
confidence, from persons living elsewhere.

16
DESIGN OF RESIDENTIAL LAYOUT:
Design of residential layout means design of any area smaller in extent than a
neighbourhood and gives principle for dwellings, including the arrangement of road
system, dividing the land into plots and approximate positions of buildings and not the
designing of the buildings themselves. Here, the planner has a greater role in
designing the residential layout by considering all the general requirements that are
necessary for a good residential layout.

A design should give more importance to the road facilities so as to provide

adequate access to every building to have an effective inter communication between
all parts of the site and its surroundings. In addition to this, adequate protected water
supply and electricity, sewerage system are to be given due importance.

Provision of adequate open space around the building also to be devoted to

common use and that is to be reserved for individual households. The density and
height of buildings also affect the spacing of the road pattern. So a residential layout
must be prepared by considering all these factors.

The basic data in existing land use, survey of industrial locations, traffic
problem, population growth, economic base and status of the area in the region are to
be analysed thoroughly for preparing a layout.

The basic objective of residential land plan is the production of good building
sites, coupled with creation of desirable environment.

POPULATION AND POPULATION DENSITY:

Since planning is for the benefit of the people living in the urban area, it
should be related to both existing and future population. The amount and location of
the future population exert a strong influence on the location and extent of land use
area. The age, socio-economic background and various other norms influence the type
of housing needed as well as the type and number of educational and recreational
facilities that should be provided. For population two important factors should be
considered namely past trends in local births and deaths and the migration.

Population density is a term, which is generally not clearly understood; On a

broad sense, it is a measure of the intensity of land use. It is generally expressed as the
number of persons living in an area or any other unit of land. These density standards
namely low and high density provides an efficient tool on the hands of the planner for
the development of residential localities.

17
Types of Density:
Densities are mainly of three kinds namely net density, gross density and
overall density.

Net density means the number of people who live per acre in the residential
area only.

Gross density means the number of people per acre over the whole of the
defined area, which includes public buildings, industrial buildings, and non-residential
areas such as hills, water body etc.

Overall density means the number of people per acre over a large area of the
town affecting its general economy.

There is yet another kind of density called town density which means the
number of people per acre over the entire area of the town.

Population densities are normally higher around the Central Business District
(CBD), where apartment development is logical.

Land use and location of various land uses:

The land use pattern basically represents the organisation of the urban
community. As land is the basic commodity on which a town planner deals, it is
essential to have a clear knowledge of the existing pattern of land use in the first
instance together with the characteristics of available undeveloped land. The existing
land use in a town is the direct outcome of its past growth and present activities. For
this, different types of land use maps are to be prepared.
The major items of land uses are as follows:
I) Residential 2) Industrial 3) Roads 4) Open space 5) Educational Institute
6) Shopping complex and business centres 7) Hospitals and clinics 8) Community hall
9) Aerodromes and railway stations 10) Godowns and ware houses 11) Water works
and sewage disposal plants.

Location of various land uses should be carefully done so that people who live
in the residential area can avail the services of different types of centres, institution
etc., located around them.

18
 The best land use can come only from a careful consideration of conflicting
demands and priorities. Thus the location of various items listed above should be
rightly judged with reasonable supporting arguments.

The following table gives the minimum and maximum distances to be covered
for gaining access to schools, recreation centres, and health centres etc.

Table of access standards for community facilities with the neighbourhood unit
and sector.
Name of the place/centre Suggested walking distance
1. School
a. Nursery & primary 0.4 km
b. Secondary 0.5 km
2. Recreation and other amenities
a. Totlot 0.2km
b. Children‟s park 0.4 to 0.5 km
c. Adult play ground 0.8 to 1.6 km
d. Local shopping 0.4 to 0.8 km
e. Health centre 0.8 to 1.6 km
f. Post office 0.8 to 1.6km
g. Service shopping 0.8 to 1.6 km

Table showing percentage utilisation of land for various purposes

Land Percentage
1. Residential area 50%
2. Roads/access 20%
3. Schools and other educational institutions 10%
4. Parks and open spaces 15%
5. Shops and markets 5%
Total 100%

(The industry should be provided separately according to the needs and population of
the area)

CIRCULATION PATTERN:
19
 The concept of circulation pattern is to strengthen the traffic and transportation
system, which is one of the major infrastructures of the residential planning. This is
the plan for major highways, streets, routes for mass transportation. It is in the plan
that all line of communication are integrated for the circulation of the people as well
as goods in and around the urban area.

This system of circulation will define the boundaries of neighbourhood units.

This system was adapted to a regular division of land into plots, and people settle at
strategic locations. A good vehicular circulation with in the project area is an essential
element for neighbourhood concept and inter-communication and transportation.

Express roads, arterial roads, sub arterial roads, collector roads, access roads
or streets and cul-de-sac or dead-end streets are the major components of urban traffic
system. Similarly in rural traffic we can see national highways, state highways and
district roads, link roads, streets and so on.

CONCLUSION:
As the planning for residential development is mainly on improving the
quality of life by way of providing various social and economic amenities, every
planner should do the planning on priority and demand basis of the same. When the
planning is done for residential development the factors such as population density,
location of various land uses and the conceptual plan, circulation pattern are to be
taken into account so as to provide better facilities to the people.

Since the population density has the greater impact on the planning project of
any size various land uses as well as the circulation systems such as mass
transportation, parkways, railroads, health facilities, recreation etc. are to be governed
and monitored in a proper way. In addition to that community facilities like
a) a variety of buildings to house administrative, educational, religious, cultural,
health, safety, recreational and service needs (b) public works and utilities to provide
water, power, heat, communication, sewage treatment, flood control, solid waste
disposal and transportation and (c) public lands to accommodate the buildings and
public works facilities and to provide open space for parks, playground, land scaping
and beautification are to be included in the planning project.
Community facilities should be planned and developed so that they will
enhance the community‟s objectives. They should serve the residential, commercial
and industrial activities with in the community. They must not conflict with adjacent
land uses but on the contrary they should stimulate other desirable land uses and
improve the physical appearance of the community.

20
SLUM CLEARANCE AND URBAN RENEWAL

Slum:
The prime characteristic of a slum is substandard housing. But a slum is
always an area. The areas characterized by substandard housing conditions within a
city are known as slums. According to „Slum Areas Improvement and clearance Act
1956‟ by the central Government the „Slum‟ is any predominantly residential area
where the dwellings, which by reason of dilapidation, over-crowding, faulty
arrangement of design, lack of ventilation, light or sanitary facilities or any
combination of these factors are detrimental to safety, health and morals.

In general, a slum is an overcrowded poverty-stricken area having lack of

open spaces and presence of unhealthy residential structures.
A scholar has rightly observed that
God made the world
Man made the town
But devil made the slum.
Almost one fourth of our population lives in slums and the slum population in some
of our cities constitutes about 30% to 50% of the population.
CAUSES OF SLUMS:
1. Decentralisation:
When decentralization takes place, the rich and middle class people move out to the
extended portion of the town and thus the poor people are left unattended in the over-
crowded area of the town.
2. Economic Conditions:
Growth of population and unemployment of population may force the affected
person to stay even in unhealthy atmosphere. In fact, the most important and universal
characteristic of slums is poverty. This is due to the fact that people live in slums
because they cannot afford to pay the rent set up by market conditions.
3. Education:
If the inhabitants are lacking in education, they may be easily dragged into
social evils without any attention to improvement of living conditions.
4. Improper Use of Land:
If lands fit for residence are used for industries or vice versa, slums may be
formed.
5. Industrialization:
Slums may be said to be the direct evil result from industrialization, which in
the early stages never took care of planning houses for labourers. Those that were
built near the factories were cheap structures with rent as the only motive.
21
6. Lack of Zoning:
If the town is not divided in to suitable zones and development is allowed to take
place at random, slums may be created.
7. Migrants:
People migrating from the surrounding areas may occupy, usually illegally,
the vacant or empty places in or outside the city. The term squatter is used to mean a
person who is occupying the land without title. The colonies of squatters may result
into slums.
8. Powers of Local Authority:
If the local authority concerned does not posses adequate powers to control the
development of town, slums may be formed.
9. Repairs and Maintenance:
If cheap houses, constructed by the landowner for the purpose of collecting rents, are
not properly maintained, the conditions favouring formation of slums may develop.

CHARACTERISTICS OF SLUMS:
1. Appearance:
This is rather the universal mark of the slums and its unpleasant appearance
offends the eyes, nose and conscience. The structures appear to be deteriorated and to
be of over-age.
2. Fire Hazards:
The slum area is often exposed to fire accidents and consequent damages. One
stick of matches may prove to be sufficient to reduce the whole slum to ashes in no
time.

3. Health and Sanitation:

The slum is characterized by low standards of sanitation and is often most
neglected by the public services for sanitation. It also refers an area of high sickness
and death rates.
4. Income Criteria:
The slum is a poverty area and the people of lowest income group of the
society occupy it.
5. Morals:
The socially disorganized slum may prove to be an area of delinquency, crime
and vice.
6. Overcrowding:
The slum is overcrowded with buildings or the buildings are overcrowded
with people or in the worst condition, both the conditions prevail in the slum.
22
7. Population:
If the slum population is racial or cultural it grants a degree of social
organization even though the area looks poverty-stricken slum area. For a
heterogeneous occupancy, the inhabitants are of different categories that are not
welcome in other locality or they cannot afford to live elsewhere.
8. Social Isolation:
The slum area is of the lowest social status and it is usually linked up with rest
of the community through its labour force. In a democratic society, the slum dwellers
can identify themselves with certain political groups because of their quality of voting
and other legal rights with the rest of the community.
9. Way of Life:
Depending up on the manner in which the slum has come up, the way of life
of the inhabitants may be such that they are strange to one another or they form a
family slum with thick acquaintance with one another.
EFFECTS OF SLUMS:
The effects of slums on town life are manifold. They can be briefly mentioned
as follows:
1. Health:
Various types of diseases easily attack the persons residing in slums. The
climate of slums is such that it easily leads to unhealthy conditions of living.
2. Absence of Amenities:
The surrounding area of slums is lacking in essential amenities in required
proportions because of overcrowding.
3. Surrounding Locality:
The working of institutions like library, school, hospital etc. located nearby
slums is seriously affected.
4. Undesirable Spots:
The slum as such on a city plan forms undesirable spots and in a sense,
disturbs the appearance of good features of a city plan.
5. Working Conditions:
It is not possible to work peacefully in slums because the whole area is full of
noise, traffic congestion, smoke, dust and darkness.
It is an accepted fact that if housing conditions are improved there is
considerable improvement in the community welfare. A good mind becomes a devil‟s
workshop in an unfavourable environment. Social workers, magistrates, health
authorities and police department also endorse the above view.
It is, therefore, more advisable to spend the public money in slum clearance
projects as prevention proves to be better than cure.

23
SLUM CLEARANCE:
The purpose of improving the existing conditions of slums is known as slum
clearance and the main four objectives of taking up slum clearance programmes can
be enumerated as follows:
1. To bring down the disparity in the living standards of the people of various
classes.
2. To prevent the occurrence of epidemics in the town or city.
3. To provide the absolute basic minimum standards of essential amenities for
healthy living.
4. To remove the ugly spots or slums from the map of town or city.
Following are the two methods by which slum clearance programmes can be affected.
 Complete removal method
 Improvement method
It should, however be remembered that slum clearance, if not properly carried out
does not abolish slums but on the contrary, it shifts and spreads them.
1. Complete Removal Method:
In this method, ill-constructed houses are demolished and only those, which
are really good, are retained. Open spaces left are used for widening of roads,
providing recreation grounds or building new houses of approved standards. Slum
clearance by this method proves to be costly and further the people who are dishoused
are to be provided with alternative housing facilities.
For the selection of the slum area for clearance as against improvement, the following
important factors should be considered.
 The degree of public health hazards involved and
 The economic potential of the land i.e. the full use to which the land can be
economically exploited after removal of the slum.
2. Improvement Method:
It is observed that certain areas where slums are due to poor drainage
arrangement and insanitary environments need not necessarily be demolished. If the
houses are fairly good, certain steps such as improvement of the street system, filling
up of low ground, modifications of drainage arrangements, removal of obstructing
structures etc. may be taken up to implement slum clearance scheme. By proper
selection of improvement works, desired results can be achieved with minimum
expenditure.
The important points to be carefully attended to in any slum clearance or
improvement project are as follows:
1. Amenities:
In addition to widening of roads, the public utility services such as water,
drainage and electricity should also be made adequate for the affected area. The
24
minimum basic standards fixed by the Government of India, for the environmental
improvement of slums are as follows:
 One water tap for every 150 persons living in the slum.
 One latrine for every 20 to 50 persons living in the slum.
 One street light for every 30 meters.
2. Legal Aspects:
The legal formalities required to implement the slum clearance project should
be strictly followed. Unnecessary haste results into serious, legal complications and
considerable time is required to correct the mistakes made. The legal aspects include
publication and circulation of the slum clearance project, acquisition of lands,
compensation of the acquired property etc.
3. Transit Camps:
When a slum clearance scheme is taken in hand, the persons occupying the
slums will have to be dishoused. Transit camps in the form of semi-permanent or
temporary buildings are constructed in some other parts of the town to accommodate
such persons temporarily till new houses are built. Transit camps of temporary nature
should be designed in the simplest way possible to bring down their costs and they
should just be strong to satisfy the requirements of the floating population likely to
pass continuously through them.
4. Unauthorised Persons:
To arrest the unauthorized persons to take advantage during the transit period
it is desirable is issue the slum dweller who is qualified to get a tenement after slum
improvement scheme, a pass book containing the complete photo of the family
including the children. Such a practice will avoid falsification and impersonation of
unauthorized persons and the pass book will serve as a proper authority for the slum
dweller to claim a tenement.
SLUM CLEARANCE AND REHOUSING:
The complete removal of slum has been recognized as the ultimate objective
and slum improvement has been considered as an immediate alternative to give relief
to the slum dwellers. The available limited resources should be exploited to the
maximum possible extent for providing rehabilitation to the urban poor people in
healthy and planned colonies. The main five difficulties to be encountered while
pursuing the slum clearance programme are:
1. constraint of resources;
2. high cost of alternative sites near place of work;
3. lengthy and time-consuming procedures of acquisition of slum area;
4. low rent paying capacity of the slum dwellers; and
5. reluctance of slum dwellers to move from the areas selected for clearance.

25
PREVENTION OF SLUM FORMATION:
The formation of slums is a very slow process and the authorities concerned to
prevent the springing up of new slums in the town should exercise extreme care. The
failure to take precaution of formation of new slums results in equalizing or even
overtaking the progress achieved in slum clearance projects. Ultimately housing
shortage and coming up of new slums become the permanent features of the town.
Some of the important measures that can be taken to effectively prevent slum
formation are as follows:
a. Cheap Housing:
Sufficient number of subsidized cheap housing should be made available to
the poor people. The investment of public funds for such purpose certainly gives good
results.
b. Compulsion to Employers:
The employers of a good number of labourers may be compelled or forced to
provide housing accommodation for their staff.
c. Construction of Buildings:
Certain rules are regulations may be framed and strictly enforced to restrict the
coming up of buildings of substandard conditions.
d. Maintenance and Repairs:
The responsibility of maintaining and carrying our repairs should be fixed and
defined in housing codes or acts. It then becomes the duty of either landlord or tenant
to keep the existing building in a living condition. Such an attitude on the part of the
local authority helps in preventing the conversion of existing good buildings into
slums.
e. Rent Restrictions:
If provision is made to restrict the increase of rent, the tenants will be
protected. The rent restriction act is in force in many towns of our country. It is
advisable to revise this act periodically so that landlord may be inclined or tempted to
maintain his property in proper form.
f. Social Education:
It is possible to check the growth of slums by carrying out effective social
education of the slum dwellers. The social education makes the slum dwellers
conscious of the evils of slums and if an intensive social propaganda is carried out
with the help of service organization through literature, posters, exhibition of films,
television shows etc. there is great improvement in the living standard of slum
dwellers.
5. Unauthorised Construction:
It is absolutely necessary to arrest immediately the unauthorized construction
in the form of huts and temporary structures on vacant pieces of lands. The authorities
concerned should take drastic action in demolishing and removing such unauthorized

26
constructions. The law should be amended suitably to give such powers to the
authorities concerned. Delay in such matters proves dangerous as time passes and
interference of outside agencies even on humanitarian grounds should not be
encouraged.

The term squatting is used to mean the encroachment on land owned by

private individual or public body. Thus the squatter occupies the land with out any
title or right. Squatting may be brought to an end by police action or it may at least be
legalized if there is widespread public sympathy for the squatters.

THE INDIAN SLUM:

It is sad state of affairs that some of the worst slums in the world can be found
in major Indian cities like Mumbai, Kolkatta, Chennai and Delhi. Slums are spreading
like white ants and cancer due to lack of proper and effective town and country
planning. It is not possible to accommodate the ever-increasing flow of migrants from
rural areas and small towns in our big cities.
The problem of slums in Mumbai is very acute. The areas of slums in Mumbai vary
from fraction of a hectare to as many as 24 hectares for Kamathipura and about 132
hectares for Dharavi. Kamathipura is the biggest slum comprised of privately owned
properties. Dharavi is the biggest eyesore as a slum on the city map of Mumbai.

Due to the rapid growth and migration of population the slums have also
considerably expanded in Kolkata, Chennai and Delhi. In a similar way, slums are
also on the increase at places like Pune and Ahemedabad. The city of Pune is fast
developing with an expanding industrial sector. The city of Ahemedabad is now
major industrial centre and over its 50 percent slum dwellers live in single rooms with
4 to 9 people.

It is also important to note that slums have appeared on the periphery of newly
built capital Chandigarh that was conceived by the master architect and town planner
Le-Corbusier. With the limited resources available, the government and semi-
government bodies will have to plan out intelligently slum clearance programmes to
grant adequate and decent housing to every human being.

Slum is like cancer in the life of a city and all efforts in the form of sound land
policy, efficient administration, maximum financial economy, planned development
etc. should be made to improve the existing slums and to prevent the formation of
new ones.

CHAPTER IV

27
 TOWN AND COUNTRY PLANNING ACTS - A REVIEW
1.INTRODUCTION:

The present condition of countries all over the world is characterised by the
galloping multiple crisis in terms of Regional, Rural, Urban, Environmental and
Ecological factors. The scattering of towns across the landscape resulting in the
creation of isolated developments without form, order, reason or beauty is a common
phenomenon. In many cases this form of development results in urban sprawl which
is ugly and out of time with human values.

In India the problems and deterioration are desperately accentuated by very

high rate of population increase, rural-urban migration, industrial development and
long standing housing shortage. A study of the history of human settlements in India
reveals that town planning ideas of high order did exist in India, as early as 2000 B.C
but somewhere during the passage of time we seem to have lost the cords of control.
The state of cities such as Kolkata and may be Mumbai also, with their diseconomies
and acute discomforts points towards this. So it is essential to bring back the growth
of our towns into the framework of proper town planning acts to control and regulate
the growth.
2. Brief History:
Among the legislations relating to town planning and development in the
beginning of the present century are the municipal acts, improvement trust acts and
town planning acts. Later on, similar legislations were enacted by other states
followed by a variety of legislations including those for the creation of special
purpose bodies like Housing Board, Slum Clearance Board etc. Also acts such as
development authority act peripheral/ribbon development acts, water supply and
sewerage board acts, etc. were created with a view to meet the specific request of a
particular situation or particular problem. These legislations vary in scope and concept
and seek in various ways to regulate and guide the urban growth.

Town planning legislations were first introduced in this country during British
rule and were mainly based on British pattern prevalent at that time. After
independence many of these legislations were either revised or new legislations were
created but still, broadly speaking, nothing more than an elaboration of the British
law. These legislations did not take into account the peculiar growth pattern of urban
development and compulsions of our country, which is entirely different from the
western parts of the world. Many of these legislations are outdated and unrealistically
designed and as such do not act as an adequate instrument of solving problems of
modern pattern of urbanisation.

28
3. Laws Relating to Town Planning, Land Acquisition and Environment:
The present laws relating to town planning, land acquisition and environment
in India are listed below:
a. At National Level:
1. Land Acquisition Act 1894
2. Indian Forests Act 1927
3. Ancient Monuments and Archaeological Sites and Remains Act 1958.
4. Urban Land Ceiling and Regulations Act 1976.
5. Water-Prevention and Control of Pollution Act 1974
6. Air Prevention and Control of Pollution Act 1981.
7. Motor Vehicles Act 1939.

b. Legal Tools at the State Level:

1. Town and Country planning Act.
2. Urban Development Authority Act.
3. Improvement Trust Act
4. Municipal Act
5. Slum Clearance Act
6. Housing Board Act
7. Periphery Control Act
8. Restriction of Ribbon Development Act
9. Industries Development and Regulation Act
10. Land Acquisition (amendment) Act and Land Acquisition Rules.
11. Rent Control Act.
12. Public Control Act
13. Places of Establishment Act
14. Shops and Establishment Act
15. Water Supply and Sewerage Act
16. New Town Development Act
17. Parks, Play Fields and Open Spaces Act
18. Ancient Monuments and Archaeological Sites and Remains Act
19. Urban Arts Commission Act
20. Apartment ownership Act

29
 21. Tree Preservation Act
22. Cinematograph Act and Cinematograph Rules
23. Police Act

C. Legal Tools at Local Levels:

1. Buildings byelaws
2. Zoning Regulations
3. Land Sub-Division Regulations
4. Traffic Regulations under the motor vehicles Act

The major gaps that can be identified in the existing laws relating to town
planning and environment in the country are the National Environmental Policy Act
and National Parks Act at the national level and Housing Board Act at the state level.
Several progressive features of the British legislation such as the concept of listed
buildings and conservation areas, the issue of buildings and tree preservation orders
and advertisement control are sadly lacking in our country.
In view of the federal nature of the Indian constitution it is the state
governments that have enacted the planning acts and other laws relating to urban
development while the central government has enacted a few laws relating to land
acquisition, pollution, etc.
4. TAMIL NADU TOWN AND COUNTRY PLANNING ACT 1971
The Tamil Nadu Town Planning Act 1920 was improved up on in 1971 to
bring under control the rural areas of Tamil Nadu also. The new act visualizes a two-
tier system of planning authority, one at Regional level, and the other at local level. In
addition, the act provides for the creation of New Town Development Authorities for
areas specially selected by the government for the purpose.
4.1 Salient Features:
Chapter III of the act describes the functions and powers of the planning
authorities, the mode of preparation of development plans and their approval by the
director of town and country planning or the government in detail.
A. PLANNING AUTHORITIES AND PLANS:
1. The Tamil Nadu Town and Country Planning Board:
The state town and country planning Board with the minister in charge of
town and country planning as chairman and director of town and country planning, as
the member-secretary is a high-powered advisory body. The functions of this board
include guiding, directing and assisting the planning authorities, advising the
government in matters relating to planning and development.
2. Regional Planning Authorities:

30
 The functions of this include carrying out surveys of the region, preparation
and implementation of regional plan, regarding:
1. The manner in which the land in the region shall be used.
2. The identification of urban and rural growth centres and new town sites.
3. Transport and communication lines.
4. Demarcation, conservation and development of areas, and
5. Prevention of erosion, provision for afforestation and development of water
front areas, rivers and lakes.
3. Local Planning Authorities:
The government may constitute local planning authorities for local planning
areas notified under the act. Every local planning authority shall carry out a survey of
the local planning area, prepare reports on these surveys and prepare land use maps
and such other maps as may be necessary for the purpose of preparing master plans.
B. Master Plan:
1. The manner in which the land in the planning area shall be used.
2. Plan for traffic and transportation.
3. The areas reserved for future development, expansion and for new housing.
4. Proposals for improvement of areas with bad layout, or development of slums
and relocation of population.
5. Identification of areas for preparation of detailed development plans.
6. A set of zoning regulations for controlling the location, height, number of
storeys and size of buildings, use of building etc.
7. Phasing of the master plan over a period of time for the purpose of
implementation.
C. DETAILED DEVELOPMENT PLAN:
1. The laying or relaying out of land either vacant or already built up as building
sites.
2. The construction, diversion, extension, alteration, improvement or closure of
streets, roads, lanes and communications.
3. A set of regulations regarding the character, density and height of buildings
and zoning of land, to specify the purpose for which buildings and specific
areas may or may not be appropriated, and provision and maintenance of
sufficient open spaces around buildings.
The Director of Town and Country Planning is empowered to sanction a
detailed development plan prepared by the local planning authority.
D. PLANNING PERMISSION:
Under the town-planning act, every person other than the state and central
Government and local authorities has to obtain planning permission from the
31
appropriate planning authority for carrying out any development of land or
construction of buildings. In respect of development undertaken on behalf of any state
or central government or local authority, the officer incharge should inform in writing
to the planning authority concerned, the intention to do so giving full details there of
and accompanied by such plans and documents atleast 30 days before undertaking
such development (Sec. 58)
E. DEVELOPMENT CHARGES:
Chapter VII of the act contains another important provision viz, the
compulsary levy of development charges on the institution of use or change of use of
buildings or development of any land or building for which permission is required
under the act in the whole area or any part of the planning area within the maximum
rates specified in the section 60. This provision, which is meant to augment the
resources of the planning authorities, replaces the „betterment-levy‟ provided for in
1920 act. The establishment of a state level fund known as „State Town and Country
Planning and Development Fund‟ as well as „Planning and Development Fund
Account‟ by the planning authorities are some other important provisions in the act.
The arrears of development charges shall together with interest due upto the date of
realisation be recoverable as arrears of land revenue.
F. APPOINTMENT OF ARBITRATOR:
According to section 34 of the 1971 act every detailed town planning‟ scheme
made under the 1920 act shall be deemed to be considered as one created under the
1971 act, and all actions taken under the 1920 act in respect there of shall be deemed
to have been taken under the 1971 act. But no provision is made in the 1971 act to
appoint an arbitrator.
G. TRIBUNALS:
The new act empowers the government to appoint as many Tribunals as may
be necessary for: -
1. Deciding disputes relating to levy or assessment of development charges
2. Determining the amount of compensation and other questions relating to the
payment of compensation
3. Deciding disputes in respect of matters mentioned in clauses (K) of sub
section (1) of section 29 and
4. Deciding disputes in respect of matters mentioned in Section 35
The tribunals shall have the same powers as are vested in a civil court under
the code of civil procedure, 1908. The procedure for appeal against any decision of
the planning authorities is as follows:
1. An appeal lies to the DTCP within two months from the date of any decision
or order passed by the planning authority. The appeal by the Appellant shall
not be entertained unless it is accompanied by satisfactory proof of the
payment.
2. Any person objecting to any order passed may appeal to the tribunal in the
prescribed manner within two months from the date of such order. The
32
 tribunal may award costs in proceedings to be paid either out of the fund
account or by such party to the appeal as the tribunal may deem fit.
3. The district court may call for an examination of any tribunal in respect of any
proceedings to satisfy itself as to the correctness, legality or property of any
decisions passed there on. It may modify, approve or reverse any proceedings,
decision or order of the tribunal or remit it for reconsideration.
H. REPEAL:
With the coming into force of Tamil Nadu Town and Country Planning Act
1971, on 15.09.1973, the Tamil Nadu Town Planning Act 1920 stands repealed.
However the following are not withstanding the repeal.
1. Anything done or any action, taken including any appointment made,
notification, order, instruction or direction issued, rule, regulation or schemes
framed, certificate, permit or licence granted or registration effected under
1920 act shall continue in corresponding provisions of the 1971 act, unless and
until superseded by anything done or any action taken under 1971 act.
2. The betterment fee in respect of any land, immediately before the
commencement of this (1971) act, may be levied, assessed and recovered, by
the local planning authority concerned under the said 1920 act as if this 1971
act had not been passed.
HOUSING DEVELOPMENT LEGISLATION AND AGENCIES:
1.0 Introduction:
Housing has a broader meaning for a town planner, which includes not only
the residential buildings, but also the infrastructure, which the environment
constitutes. But the word housing is understood commonly to denote a shelter or
dwelling without referring to other things which go to makeup a satisfactory or
acceptable dwelling place.
The development of housing often results in important changes in the use of
natural resources and has direct effects on industrial, commercial, social and other
activities over a wide area. Hence a systematic planning with housing legislation is
necessary to promote the abovesaid development with the limited land availability
and increasing population. Some of the important aspects of legislation in India that is
for effective implementation of housing programme are discussed in the following
paragraph.
2.0 Need for Legislation and Local Tools:

Legislation is the backbone of our planning thoughts and programmes. The

success of our housing policies and programmes largely depend on the legislative
authorities we have, in implementing these schemes.
The legal frame work holds any planning programme into an actual shape to
maximum practicable degree, without legislation it is not possible to prevent the
owner of a piece of land from using it in a way he likes except on the ground of
nuisance. With the help of legislation it is possible to prescribe the use to which a land
must be put to. Depending upon the policy guidelines of the Central Government, the
33
State Government is empowered to enact laws and regulations to control and guide
activities including property matters and housing.

Housing involves the entire community of any area. As such it is essential that
the planner, representing the interest of community health, welfare, safety and
convenience should be aimed with as many legal powers as needed to control and
guide the housing activities for that area. The community should have adequate legal
powers to enable it to enforce necessary regulations and control the use of land for the
general welfare of the community.
3.0 REQUIREMENTS OF HOUSING LEGISLATIONS:
Housing legislation is required for policy making, formulation and
implementation of housing programmes and schemes, finance allocation and
recovery, management and maintenance of housing areas and estates, regulations and
control, undertaking research and other development activities.
LEGAL TOOLS:
The different forms of legal power are as follows;
1. The enactment by state legislature/parliament
2. The rules and regulations issued by the state government on the act or
otherwise.
3. Byelaws prepared by local bodies with the approval and sanction of state
government.
4.0 HOUSING LEGISLATION:
Housing legislation has many important aspects that should be followed
strictly or otherwise courts, may strike down all the measures as unconstitutional.
Housing legislation may be divided into three categories based on their area of
operation. They are:
1. Relevant to housing
2. Relevant to building and land
3. Others
1. Relevant to Housing:
 Improvement trust act
 Housing Board act
 Slum Clearance act
 Municipal Acts, rules and regulations etc.
2. Relevant to Building and Land:
 Land acquisition act
 Town and country planning act

34
  Public health act
 Factories act

3. Others:
 Rent control act
 Co-operative societies act
 Land ceiling act
 Taxation and finance act.
4.1 LEGISLATIONS RELATING TO HOUSING:
4.1.1 Improvement Trust Act:
The main objective of the improvement trust act was to develop new area to
combat congestion. The earliest one was in Mumbai in 1898 and the latest is the
Karnataka improvement trust act. The government bodies of these trusts, which are
constituted under the act will have an administrative officer as its chairman and
include representatives of the concerned local bodies, government departments etc. as
its members.
The trusts were empowered to undertake improvement schemes of various
categories such as general improvement schemes, housing, accommodation schemes,
street schemes etc.
The city improvement trust in Chennai city was established in 1946 with the
object of providing houses and house sites to the public in need of them. With the
limited resources available to it, the city improvement trust functioned till 1962 and
was able to achieve its object to a modest degree.
4.1.2 Housing Board Act:
Housing board functions on no loss, no profit basis and they have replaced the
earlier improvement trusts. The Tamil Nadu Housing Board was established in 1962
that extends to the whole of state. The Tamil Nadu State Housing Board Act 1961
(Act 17 of 1961) was enacted in the year 1961 and the act provided for the
establishment of state housing board for the execution of housing and improvement
schemes and for certain other matters.
The important units of the board are
1. Land acquisition
2. Project formulation and town planning, architecture, design, engineering,
construction, maintenance and repairs
3. Finance and accounts
4. Administration and allotment
5. Recovery and revenue.

35
The TNHB act has provided the following activities.
 Land acquisition
 Planning and designing of building
 Finance for housing programme
 Construction of dwelling units, with all amenities and necessary facilities
 Allotments of houses, either by rental system or by the hire purchase or a
combination of both
 Planning and development of land purchased for housing
 Maintenance of all houses
 Special programmes to meet effects of fire, flood etc.
 Sales of developed plots, houses etc.
 Housing construction for economically weaker sections of the
society, like slum dwellers, industrial workers etc.
These are the essential requirements to be carried out by the housing board.
Housing Board is a statutory body with full corporate status for execution and
administration of most of the abovesaid terms.
The act empowers the board to draw loans directly from financial agencies
like LIC, HUDCO etc. with a formal approval by the government. They are also
empowered to float loans even from the public with previous sanction of the
government.
4.1.3 Slum Clearance Act:
The Tamil Nadu Slum Clearance Board was created under „The Tamil Nadu
Slum Areas (Improvement and Clearance) Act, 1971‟ (Tamil Nadu Act No.11 of
1971) and is responsible for slum clearance and improvement in all over Tamilnadu.
The important aspects included in the act are:
1. Declaration of slum areas.
2. Prevention of further growth of slums
3. Improvement of slum areas.
It provides power to
a) Prescribe an authority to execute the works of improvement of slum areas.
b) Recover expenses from the occupiers of land or building
c) Demolition of building which is unfit for human habitation
4. Slum clearance and development
This provides power for -
a. Identification of the slum based on criteria to declare;
b. Obligation to clear areas and demolish buildings
36
 c. Provision for the owners to develop
d. Prescribe authority to re-develop slum clearance areas;
e. Rules to be provided for the transfer to previous occupants.
5. Acquisition of land for the purpose of rehousing the population from the cleared
areas.
6. Protection of tenants in slum areas from eviction.
4.1.4 MUNICIPAL ACTS, RULES AND REGULATIONS ETC.
The first municipality act was enacted in Punjab. The main objectives are the
development of areas, provision of facilities such as health, water and electricity,
orderly growth of towns, acquisition of land, layout and prevention of obnoxious
trades. The effectiveness of the municipal act has reduced considerably, mainly
because they are primarily formulated for small cities and with ring growth of
urbanisation it has become highly difficult to implement the powers of the act.
a. The Chennai City Municipal Corporation Act 1919
Regarding housing, the following points are emphasised
1. Construction of model houses.
2. Housing including slum clearances and improvement
3. Letting of dwelling houses for the use of working class as well as middle class
4. Enforcement of building bye-laws and regulations
5. Provision of infrastructure facilities.
6. Encouragement given to the co-operative buildings
b. The Tamil Nadu District Municipalities Act, 1920
This act apart form prescribing functions and powers of the municipal
authorities in chapter IX & X with the municipal building rules 1972 made under this
act requires the local authorities for providing and maintaining streets and roads and
regulation of developments, construction of buildings etc. in municipal towns.
4.2 LEGISLATIONS RELEVANT TO BUILDING AND LAND
4.2.1 LAND ACQUISITION ACT, 1994.
The right of the state to acquire private property for public utility or purpose
has been recognised and allowed through this act of parliament for the welfare of the
people and the community. This is to bring the required land under single ownership
for the purpose of comprehensive planning and improvement.
The procedure followed for acquisition of land under the land acquisition act
is described briefly.
a) Preliminary notification: Section (4) (1):

37
 As soon as the government thinks that land is required for public purpose, a
notification to that effect is published in the government gazette. A public notice is
also to be given in the locality.
b) Housing of objection: section (6)
The Persons interested in the properties proposed for acquisition will send
their objection in writing to the collector within 30 days of the preliminary
notification.
c) Declaration of intended acquisition: section (6)
If the government after taking into consideration of all the objections comes to
the conclusion that the acquisition of any land is really necessary, a declaration to that
effect is made in the Government gazette. The abovesaid declaration shall be
conclusive evidence that the land is needed for public purpose and after such
declaration the collector may provide to acquire.
d) Notice to the persons interested: section (9)
The collector will give notice to all interested in the land that government
wants to take possession of and invite claims to compensate for them.
e) Award by the collector: section (11)
The collector will make enquiries into the claims of all persons interested in
the land and then pay his award
f) Taking Possession: section (16)
After the award is made, the collector will proceed to take possession of the
land, which will absolutely vest with the government free from all encumbrances.
g) Reference to court against collectors award: section (18)
Any person interested in the property who is dissatisfied with the award in any
respect, may make reference to the court and the orders of the court will be final and
binding, both on the party and the government.
h) Determination of compensation: section (23 & 24)
These sections lay down the basic law for the determination of‟ the
compensation in which the primary factor is the working out the market value.
4.2.2 TOWN AND COUNTRY PLANNING ACT:
(The Tamil Nadu Town and Country Planning Act, 1971)
The sections of the act spells out the contents of regional plan, detailed
development plan, development plan and new town development plans. It also
provides for the implementation of these plans. The act introduced the concept of
planning permission, to ensure the development in planning area conforming to the
plan.
Under the act, after the sanction of the scheme, acquisition of land reserved for
public purposes is vested under section 36 through the provision of land acquisition
act 1894. Accordingly proposals are initiated and necessary compensation is paid to
the owners under section 37. The planning authority concerned cannot prolong the
38
acquisition proposals and this made the owner to suffer. The same section 37 fixes the
time limit after the sanction of the plan and within which period all acquisition has to
be completed.
4.3.0 OTHERS
4.3.1 RENT CONTROL ACT:
Government during wartime to check the rise in rents enacted rent control act.
Under rent control act, it is the duty of the landlord to undertake repairs and to keep
the premises habitable. Repairs would not include new construction or addition, nor
could the landlord be compelled to undertake unnecessary and unremunerative and
dis-proportionate repairs.
The remedies available to the statutory tenants are two fold
1. To make repairs and deduct the cost from rent or recover the amount from the
landlord:
2. To approach the rent controller for permission to make repairs. In both these
cases the rent control act has laid down the maximum amount that can be
spent by the tenants.
If the rents are controlled while the costs of materials and wage level have
been rising, landlord would naturally lower the quality of maintenance. However,
there are number of offsetting factors that need considerations in this context.
Some of these offsetting factors are
1. Permitted rent increase
2. Rent control holiday
3. Discounting the price effect through sale
4. Fuller utilisation of premises
5. Level of rent etc.
4.3.2 CO-OPERATIVE SOCIETIES ACT:
The various types of co-operative societies that undertake housing activities
under co-operative societies (amendment) act of 1920 are:
1. Co-operative buildings societies
2. Co-operative housing construction societies
3. Co-operative house building societies
4. Co-operative township societies
5. Co-operative industrial housing societies
6. Co-operative tenancy housing societies
7. Co-operative housing societies in rural area.
These societies provide financial assistance for various housing projects
formulated for its members.

39
4.3.3 URBAN LAND (CEILING AND REGULATIONS) ACT 1976.
The 25th amendment of the constitution (1971) paved the way for the urban
land ceiling and regulation act, 1976. Since then the problem of taking over,
managing and disposing of surplus urban properties were considered. The UL (C &
R) act imposed a ceiling not on urban property but only on private holdings of vacant
land.

Any person, family, company, firm, association, private trust or housing group
owning vacant land in excess of ceiling limit is affected by the act. The act provides
for a compensation for the surplus land beyond the ceiling limit.
The statement of objects and reasons attached to the bill when introduced in
the Lok Sabha on 28 January 1976 reads as follows:
“A bill to provide for the imposition of ceiling on vacant in the urban
agglomerations for the acquisition of such land in excess of the ceiling limit, to
regulate the construction of buildings on such land and for masters connected there
with a view to prevent the concentration of urban land in the hands of a few persons
and speculation and profiteering thereon and with a view to bring about an equitable
distribution of land in urban agglomeration to subserve the common good”.
The ULCR act is classified into four categories A, B, C & D.
For category „A‟: 500 sq.m for urban areas of the Metropolitan cities of
Mumbai, Kolkata, Chennai and Delhi having a population exceeding 10 lakhs.
For category „B‟: 1000 sq.m for the urban areas of those cities having a
population of 10 lakhs and above excluding the 4 metropolitan cities taken under
category A.
For category „C‟: 1500 sq.m for urban areas having a population between 3 to
10 lakhs.
For category „D‟: 2000 sq.m for the urban areas having population of 2 to 3
lakhs.
The ceiling limit is applicable to the peripheral areas of agglomeration ranging
in width from 1 km to 8 km.
The Tamil Nadu Urban Land Ceiling Act prescribed a ceiling for various
categories such as individuals, families and industrial undertakings. At the highest
level it was 2,000 sq.m (roughly nine grounds), in the then Madras Urban
Agglomeration, 3,000 sq.m in Madurai, Coimbatore, Salem and Trichi and 4,000
sq.m. in Tirunelveli.
Recently the central Government has decided to repeal the Urban Land
(Ceiling and Regulation) Act to revive the stagnant housing industry and provide
affordable accommodation.
Under the Act, annulled through an ordinance by the Central Government on
11th January 1999 State Governments are required to pass legislation either to repeal
or to continue the Act.

40
4.4.0 SUPPLEMENTARY MEASURES:
The central government has recommended to the states the following
legislature measures.
1. Tax on vacant land
2. Tax on built up plots in excess of ceiling
3. Tax on built up areas in excess of maximum plinth areas.
4. A development charge when land is developed
5. A charge for change in land use.
6. Restrictions on transfer of agricultural land within the urban agglomerations
7. Change in municipal building bye-laws to make them conform to UL (C & L)
Act 4.5.0
Building regulations control the construction of buildings so as to satisfy all
modem requirements of health, convenience, comfort and beauty. The regulations
deal with various important matters in connection with the buildings such as
1. Marginal spaces to be left
2. Preparation of built up area to be left in the plot
3. Proportion of window area to the floor area to ensure adequate light and
ventilation
4. Height and plinth area of rooms
5. Quality of building material to be used to make the building waterproof, fire
proof, heatproof and dust proof. The building regulations vary from town to
town. They are more liberal in small towns.
5. CONCLUSION:
No law is a self-contained and foolproof instrument by itself but only provides
basic legal framework and a method for formulation and implementation of intended
programmes.
CHAPTER V
DEVELOPMENT CONTROL RULES

INTRODUCTION:
The process of „Development Control‟ regulates developments in desired
direction. The basic concept is to prevent people from developing in their own wishes,
regardless of public interest which, if permitted will result in chaos. Therefore it is
necessary to achieve desired end result, usually physical plans, namely master plan
and detailed development plan for various localities within a metropolis.

41
 The process of urbanisation in cities and towns indicates the rapid growth and
change. The problems occurred due to this are many fold. So a framework to control
and regulate the phenomena of city expansion is essential to make not only the
existing features but also even future human settlements as safe, orderly and beautiful.

However, the significance of development control in our country lies in the

fact that the growth of towns and cities has been influenced by the enforcement of
municipal acts, zoning regulations, lay-out rules and building bye-laws rather than by
implementation of master plans and detailed development plans Development control
largely depends upon the extent to which rules are realistic Therefore, it is necessary
to check whether various standards incorporated in the building control rules and
regulations are such that common man can afford to construct a house in accordance
with the standards.

Types of Development Control Rules

1. Zoning Regulations
2. Subdivision regulations
3. Building bye-laws
a. Parking regulations
b. Architectural control

ZONING REGULATIONS
Zoning regulations are legal control over the use of land area and height of
building and density of population. It is through zoning regulation that the growth of
urban area is controlled and regulated systematically. These regulation lists out the
uses permissible in each of the zone and restrictions to be imposed by the Director of
Town and Country Planning. For the purpose of these regulations the urban areas may
be divided into major use zones

1. Residential use zone

a. Primary residential use zone
b. Mixed Residential use zone
2. Commercial use zone
3. Industrial use zone
a. Light industrial use zone
b. General industrial use zone -
c. Special and hazards industrial use zone
4. Institutional zone
42
5. Open space and recreational use zone
6. Agricultural use zone
7. Non-urban use zone

In all the above zones there are some uses permissible by local authority, some
uses permissible on appeal to the competitive authority and some are prohibited in the
zone.

2.2 SUB DIVISION REGULATIONS:

Sub division regulation ensure that the division of the land before
development is in such a way that its layout provides for sewer lines, drainage
facilities, water lines, sufficient width of roads and spaces for other public purposes.
They also have the right of controlling the density of population in a particular area
and the volume/no, of buildings by prescribing the minimum size of plots as well.

Section 175 and 176 of the district municipalities act provides that any person
intending to make or layout a new street or utilise any land or any portion of the land
for construction of buildings, shall obtain approval of layout from the executive
authority. While sanctioning the layout, the council may laid down such conditions as
it may deem fit for proper development of that area.

Rules and regulations for layout, buildings constructions, width of the roads
and development of the area are enumerated below.

43
1. Site Conditions:
Before any developer proposes to layout or subdivides land into plots, he has
to ensure that:
1. The clearance from the competitive authority under urban land ceiling and the
regulation act is obtained.
2. The site is not liable to inundation.
3. The site gains access from a public road or Street.

2. Layout Regulations:
1. The laying out and subdivision of land for buildings purposes, shall be carried
out only in accordance with the provisions specified below:
2. The width of the streets and roads in layouts shall conform to the minimum
requirements given at the end and be in conformity with the development plan,
if any, for the area except in group housing, flats or in areas reserved for
economically weaker sections:
3. Splay- A-Splay at the intersection of two or more streets/roads shall be,
provided as given below,
4. When the two roads are above thirty metres wide, a splay of 6.0 m X 6.0 m
shall be provided and for twelve meters to thirty meters wide, a minimum
splay of 4.5 m X 4.5 m shall be provided. When the two, roads are less than
twelve metres wide, a splay of 3.0 m X 3.0 m will be sufficient.
5. Cul-de-sac -Can be provided when their length do not exceed sixty metres.
They shall be provided with a turn around area of 9 m X 9 m at the closed end.
6. Roads- Development control rules also prescribe the width of the roads to be
provided which varies from 7.2 m to 24 m depending upon the number of
plots the road serves.
7. Development Charges - For any development, a development charge is to be
paid by the developers to the authority. It is to be paid for the land on which
the development takes place and the building separately.

BUILDING BYE-LAWS:
Control of private buildings is an important municipal function. Substandard
and jerry building without sufficient regard for sanitation, safety and convenience is a
crime against the society. Observance of the basic standards of safety and soundness
in construction and provision of minimum requirements of health and sanitation are
pre requisites towards effective assumption of control of private buildings by any
civic body/authority. Therefore the enforcement of building byelaws by law is quite
significant.

44
 The chapter X of Tamil Nadu District Municipalities Act 1920 provides for
building regulations. In the excise of these powers, the govt. has published the Tamil
Nadu District Municipalities Buildings Rules 1972 which is at present in force,
secondly the Tamil Nadu Panchayat Buildings Rules, 1958 and 1970 which lay down
norms for sub division of land into building plots and provisions of common
amenities apart from regulations and restrictions on use of land and on construction of
buildings.

The building, rules prescribe certain standards in size and extent of building
plots, distance from road boundaries, water bodies, burial ground, burning grounds
and aerial lines. The minimum height of plinth of open spaces in and around the
buildings and maximum height of buildings are prescribed. Arrangement of
ventilation, sanitation and disposal of sewage that are to be made has been specified,
specifications for building roof‟ materials, thickness of walls, permissible loads etc.
are also prescribed.

BUILDING RULES 1970 & 1972

The Chennai City Corporation Building rules 1972, the Tamil Nadu District
Panchayat Municipalities Building rules 1972 and the Tamil Nadu Panchayat
Building Rules 1970 are at present in force in Tamil Nadu. The general provisions in
these rules can be broadly classified under seven categories.
 Site suitability
 Structural stability and safety
 Space around the buildings
 Dimensions of rooms
 Ventilation
 Other requirements and
 Special rules for huts

a) Site Suitability:
The Chennai City Corporation Building Rules provide that no piece of land
shall be used as a site for the construction of building if it is within 15 meters of tank
unless measures are undertaken to prevent domestic drainage to pass on to the
intended tank, if it is a filled up tank unless the health officer has granted a no
objection certificate from the sanitary point of view, if the site does not about an
existing street duly formed, if the site is insanitary or it is dangerous to construct a
building and if it has an extent of less than 95 sq.m and a minimum width of less than
6m.

45
 The Tamil Nadu District Municipalities Building Rules and Tamil Nadu
Panchayat Building Rules provide that no site shall be approved for construction if it
admits storm water, unless arrangements are made to prevent effectively the flooding
of the site, if the soil or sub soil would be saturated with water. No site with in a
distance of 30m from the railway boundary shall be used for the construction of
building etc,

The Tamil Nadu Panchayat Building rules provide that the site shall not be
less than 1 8 m X 6 m in the case of continuous type 15 m X 8 m in the case of semi-
detached type and 18 m X 12 m in the case of detached type of buildings.

b) Structural Stability and Safety:

The Chennai City Corporation Building Rules and the District Municipalities
Building Rules describe in detail the specifications for foundations, plinth super
structure, roof and structural stability of the buildings.

The Tamil Nadu Panchayat Building Rules state that the buildings shall be
built on proper foundations with a basement of not less than 0.5 meters in height from
the adjacent ground level and that the walls shall be built with such materials as may
be approved by the concerned authority.

c) Space Around Buildings: -

The Municipal Building Rules require a minimum distance of 1.3m from the
boundary of the street and an open space of 1/4th of the area of the site for building
intended for human habitation.

The Tamil Nadu Panchayat Building rules provide that there shall be a set
back from the edge of the Street by a distance of not less than 3m and a rear open
space of not less than 3m in the case of continuous type buildings, a side open space
of 1.8 m on the unattached side and a rear open space on either side of the building to
a width of 5 m and rear open space of 4.5 m for detached buildings.

d) Dimensions of Rooms:
The Chennai City Corporation Building Rules provide that every room
intended for human habitation shall have a minimum height of 2.75 m for flat roof
and 2.5 m for pitched roof, a width of not less than 2.5 m for a distance of at least 3 m
along the length of the room, and an area of not less than 7.5 sq.m.

46
 While the panchayat building rules state that every room intended for human
habitation shall have an area of not less than 7.20 sq.m and that the average height
shall not be less than 2.4 m. The Kitchen area shall not be less than 3.6 sq.m.

e) Ventilation:
The Chennai City Corporation and Tamil Nadu District Municipalities
Building Rules provided that every living room shall be provided with sufficient
number of window and ventilators totally providing a ventilation area of not less than
1/8th of the floor area of the room. While the T.N. Panchayat Building Rules provides
that for every living room ventilators be not less than 1/5 th of floor area.

F) Other Requirements:
All these building rules provide the width of doors, corridors and passages,
with of stairs, chimneys, size of bathrooms, latrines and urinals for various categories
of building and parking facilities. These rules also provide the procedure for approval
of layout of sites for building purposes by the directorate of Town and Country
Planning. The street shall be demarcated, metalled, channeled, flagged, sewered,
drained and lighted by the executive authority and all expenses incurred thereon shall
be paid by the owner of the land while submitting the application for layouts.

g) Special Rules for Huts:

The Tamil Nadu District Municipalities and Panchayat Building Rule provides
that no portion of huts shall be placed within l.75 m of a masonry or a wooden
building, provided that there shall be a minimum of open space of 1 .25 m between
the waves or between the wave of the hut and a masonry wall, as the case may be.
And no hut shall have more than one storey, not exceeding 3.75m in height measured
from the top of the plinth to the junction of the eaves and wall.

The Chennai City Corporation Building Rules provide that the huts shall be
permitted only in the area set apart for huts and huts shall be built in accordance with
the alignment determined in a layout.

RELAXATION IN BUILDING RULES:

It may happen that the existing building rules cannot be physically applied to
an existing‟ very small plot. In such a case, the required relaxation must necessarily
be granted. In cases, where conformity with the rules is possible but beyond the
financial means of the petitioner, relaxations are granted.

47
Written Permission for Development and Construction From the Local Bodies:
1. According to Tamil Nadu Town and Country Planning Act 1971, section 2(3),
no person shall carry out any development or construction without the written
permission of the Chennai Metropolitan Development Authority or such other
executive authority of local body/agency/person to whom this power has been
delegated by the authority.
2. For the purpose of obtaining permission the applicant shall submit the
application to the member secretary or the authority or to such other authority
or person designated by the authority and the member secretary or such other
authority who shall grant the written permission.
3. An application in form „B‟ accompanied by plans, specification etc.,
mentioned therein the case of laying out of land or building purpose.
4. Every permission for development or construction granted shall remain in
force for a period of three years from the date of such permission.
5. No land, premises or building shall be put to use or changed not in conformity
with the provisions of these rules.

According to the district municipalities building rules 1972, the executive

authority of the local body shall scrutinize the application submitted by the applicants
for construction of buildings if that area lies in any detailed development plan scheme.
Section 203 of the act provides for the ground of refusal of permission and the reasons
for such refusal shall be specified and stated in the order. According to the section 239
of the act, if any notice or order is not complied with/within the time specified, the
executive authority might recover any reasonable expenses incurred under section
339.

5. DIFFICULTIES IN IMPLEMENTING THE DEVELOPMENT CONTROL

RULES:
5.1 Zoning Regulations:
 The zoning regulations are mostly arbitrary and unrealistic. It is merely based
on development trend, expectation and rule of thumb.
 The concept of zoning is to sophisticated and need special resource inputs for
its application, where only a few cities were able to formulate such
regulations.
 Frequent exemption from operation of zoning laws defect the whole purpose
of pursuing this tool in land use planning.
 There is no guarantee that the use indicated by the planning authority as well
as municipalities is the best from the view point of its location and
surrounding environment.

48
  Assigning land use creates difficulty in delineation and enforcement. That is
one half of a building comes in one land use while the other half comes under
some other use.

5.2 Sub Division Regulations: -

1. The provision of urban land ceiling act forces even the law-abiding promoters
to go for unauthorised layout.
2. Reservation of 10% of land for non-commercial public purpose is considered
to be too much in view of the high land cost and its scarcity. Unscrupulous
promoters buy agricultural lands at low cost and sell it as house sites
unauthorisedly for exorbitant price.
3. Enforcement machinery puts the scale of approval even before fulfilling
statutory obligations.
4. It is widely felt that only the government, a statutory body, should undertake
the operations of the sub-division and land development.
5. Building plans are approved in unauthorised layouts for pecuniary benefits.

5.3 Building Bye -Laws:

The standards do not cater to the needs of the lowest income group, which
constitute the bulk majority.

The standards stipulated are often absolute and outdated.

The building bye-laws are often too rigid to take into account the varying
conditions in the different sectors of the city and rapid changes in the city economy.

The staff entrusted with the working and enforcement of building byelaws,
lack the requisite technical know-how. So there is the need of adequately trained
cadre to handle the job.

There are many difficulties in evolving a uniform code of building byelaws for
different income groups.

The prescription of minimum plot size does not seem to have a rational basis.

Appellate authority regularizes the unauthorised construction without any rule

or norm.
49
 Confusion often arises due to the use of different concepts like plot rate, floor
space index and floor area.

Land owners often construct buildings without getting any permission from
competent authority.

6. CONCLUSION:
It is learnt from the above, that there are difficulties in implementing those
rules and regulations framed for development of any area, which are in force
presently. It is, therefore, required to strengthen those rules from time to time
whenever it is found necessary in order to cope with the changing situations in the
cities for orderly growth and healthy and hygienic living of the citizens which is the
responsibility of the local bodies.

PLANNING AGENCIES:
In India the planning activities are carried out by a number of agencies at
various levels. The various types agencies involved in this field are as follows:
1. Agencies involved in policy making and fixing up of priorities of different
types of programme
2. Agencies involved in preparation of planning schemes.
3. Agencies involved in implementation of planning schemes.
4. Financing agencies
5. Agencies involved in research activities.

Agencies Involved in Policy Making and Fixing Up of Priorities of Different

Types of Programmes:
Policy making is one of the most important activity, which will help various
improvement schemes and methods, and as a means of implementing the schemes.
The agencies involved in policy making are as follows:
 National Level Agencies
 State Level Agencies

The ministry of urban affairs formulates policies at the national level. It also
suggests development measures through other agencies. Various special committees
or study groups appointed by the govt., extend advice to the planning commission.
Apart from the members of the planning commission, experts in the fields concerned
i.e. communication, ministry of defence etc., also have separate planning schemes for
housing their employees.

50
 Apart from the programmes of the various ministries and planning
commission, some specialised agencies are also involved in planning programme.
Town and country planning organisation, housing and urban development corporation
etc., at the national level, Town planning departments at the state level are the
examples. They all formulate planning policies and programmes on the basis of
recommendation of the planning commission. To make the set up more efficient the
planning commission recommended setting up of regional and central housing boards.
These are autonomous bodies appointed by the government, responsible for
implementing the housing programmes. Housing boards and slum clearance boards at
state level have already come up.

In the state, planning commission plays a vital role in formulating the policies.
The State Housing Board, Town and Country Planning Department, Chennai
Metropolitan Development Authority, and the Slum Clearance Board are the main
agencies, which are responsible for the promotion of planning activities in the state.
The state housing board implements the housing programme according to the
guidance of the planning commission.

Agencies Involved in Preparation of Planning Schemes:

State government and several agencies at different levels undertake the
preparations of various planning schemes. Since the type and function of urban and
rural settlement differ, agencies have been created to function separately.
The Government of India intends assistance in the form of financial aids to these
agencies and state organizations.
Starting from the town planning department at the national level, town
planning department at the state level, local planning authority at district level, local
bodies and housing boards are involved in the preparation of planning schemes.

Agencies Involved in Implementation of Planning Schemes:

The various agencies implementing the planning programmes are development
authorities, housing boards, improvement trusts, municipal corporations,
slum clearance boards and so on. The other important agencies are:
1. The central government departments providing housing for their employees.
2. The central public works department.
3. Public and semi-public autonomous bodies and organisations like Hindustan
Aircrafts, Heavy Electricals, Steel Plants etc.,
4. Industrial housing by industries concerned under the subsidised housing
schemes.
5. Co-operative societies.
Financing Agencies:

51
 At the National level, Life Insurance Corporation of India, Housing and Urban
Development Corporation, Housing Development Finance Corporation, General
Insurance Corporation, National Commercial Banks and the Central government.

At the state level, the state governments state housing boards and co-operative
housing finance agencies.

At the International Level, the World Bank is playing an important role by

giving financial assistance. In addition to that IMF and ADB are also financing for
various developmental activities.

MOBILIZATION OF FINANCE: HUDCO:

The HUDCO mobilize the finance through government allocations, private
saving, long term borrowing from the public finance institutions like the LIC and
assistance from international/foreign agencies. The HUDCO lends money to
undertake projects of housing boards or other executive agencies to undertake projects
of housing and urban development, which are in a position to make repayment within
a reasonable short period. HUDCO is giving special emphasis on schemes, which are
likely to promote the realisation of the social objectives. i.e. schemes which cater to
the weaker sections of the society.

LIFE INSURANCE CORPORATION OF INDIA:

The Life Corporation of India is one of the big agencies, financing housing
projects in our country. LIC intends financial assistance in the following pattern:
1. Loans to state governments
2. Loans to public sector undertakings and public limited companies.
3. Loans to co-operative housing finance societies of approved companies
4. Loans to apex co-operative housing finance societies
5. Loans to their own employees and co-operatives societies formed by them.

Apart from the above loan schemes, the LIC is also assisting the private
individuals to build their own houses. The LIC operates three types of financial
assistance for house construction.
 Own your home scheme
 Own your apartment scheme
 Property mortgage scheme.

52
 The first two schemes are meant for policy holders and the third one is for the
general public.

HOUSING DEVELOPMENT FINANCE CORPORATION (HDFC)

HDFC was established in May 1978. It is a financial institution providing
finance especially for residential housing purpose, mainly to individuals, co- operative
societies and companies throughout India. It mobilizes finance largely from shares
and deposits from the public and the long-term loans from the institution like LIC and
International institutions like United States Agency for International Development
(USAID), HDFC also gets loan from Nationalised Banks and assistance from the
government. In recent times it shows a healthy and encouraging trend. It has a
building department and mortgage department.

2.5 AGENCIES INVOLVED IN RESEARCH ACTIVITIES:

In India, more than 80% of the families live on very low income and the
resources that can be utilised for housing activity are rather very meagre. So low cost
techniques in housing construction are being promoted. Various organisations and
local expert study groups are engaged in bringing about advanced techniques assists
in construction through research and technology. Some of the major institutions
involved in research activity in India are the following:

1. NATIONAL BUILDING ORGANISATION (NBO) (1954)

NBO is an advisory co-ordinating body for technical matters concerning
building and housing. It was established in 1954. Research in building techniques
utility and new methods of house construction is also being encouraged by NBO. The
organization sponsors research \work on various aspects of building materials and on
economic and sociological aspect of housing. Five rural housing wings at Anand,
Bangalore, Chandigarh, Kolkatta and New Delhi are functioning under NBO for
research training and extension work in rural housing and village planning.

The Important Functions and Objectives of The NBO are the Following:
1. To co-ordinate and evaluate the results of research on building materials
settlement and technical development carried on in different institutions.
2. To guide industry and public in general on the use of new materials and the
techniques.
3. To initiate proposal for increase in production of building materials and their
proper distribution.
4. To examine building costs with a view for reduction in overheads and other
expenses particularly in the public sector.

53
 5. To provide standing exhibitions where methods for low cost housing and
technique of economic building can be displayed.
6. Standardisation of building components and to organize production and
distribution of such products on large scale.
7. To provide for training in building work and improved techniques to architects
and engineers.
8. To advise governments on technical matters including experiments, research
on building, education and new techniques.

2. HOUSING AND URBAN DEVELOPMENT CORPORATION (HUDCO)

The corporation was formed in 1970. Including financing schemes, HUDCO
got several fields of activity. HUDCO has evolved economical designs for various
categories of housing. These designs are recommended to borrowers. In making its
designs HUDCO had to bear in mind the requirements of the building codes, the need
to standardize components and construction techniques and to minimize the use of
scare building materials like cement and steel. It also assists the setting up of building
materials industries, which replace steel and cement or increases the production of
bricks, secondary wood species etc. It also undertakes demonstration of cheap
housing projects jointly with the state housing agencies.

In scrutinizing building plans, emphasis is being placed on functional utility

and aesthetics rather than on luxury. This approach is expected to result in discipline
and economy in the use of land and building materials.

3. THE COUNCIL OF SCIENTIFIC AND INDUSTRIAL RESEARCH (CSIR)

The CSIR with its network of laboratories and research institutions is another
instrument on scientific and industrial research under the auspices of the government.
It also supports research universities and other centres of learning. The laboratories
run by CSIR and associated institutions are grouped into six distinct disciplines. The
laboratories connected directly to major aspects of human settlements are:
1. The Central Road Research Institutes (CRRI) India
2. The Central Building Research Institute (CBRI) Roorkee with field stations at
Calcutta and extension cell at Ahmedabad and Bhopal. CBRI undertakes
works relating to building management and functional efficiency. The designs
prepared by CBRI have already brought about economy in cost from 20 to
30%.

54
 3. The Structural Engineering Research Centre (SERC) Roorkee and Chennai. It
conducts research in specialised design and structural problems connected
with building and other structure and develop computer programmes for
analysis and design of repeatable structure like multistoried buildings,
prestressed beams, shell roofs, folded plates etc.
4. The National Environment Engineering Research Institute (NEERI) Nagpur
with Zonal laboratories at Ahamedabad, Mumbai, Kotkatta, Delhi, Hyderabad,
Jaipur, Kanpur and Chennai. It does research in sanitation and disposal of
sewage and industrial waste, Industrial hygiene and pollution.

4. PUBLIC UNDERTAKINGS:
1. National Industrial Development Corporation (NIDC)
2. National Building Construction Corporation (NBCC)
3. Engineers India Ltd (EIL). All the above three take up large scale consultancy
and construction works at various levels for National and International needs.
4. Hindustan Prefab Ltd. (HPL)

OTHER INSTITUTIONS
1. Forest Research Institute and College, Dehradun.
2. Bureau of Indian Standards, Delhi.
3. The Government Test House, Alipore.
4. The Engineering Central Laboratory (ECL), Hyderabad.
5. The Soil Mechanics Laboratory, Punjab.
6. Rural Housing Cell.

The function of the cell are to arrange physical and socio economic survey of
the villages, to draw up master plans for selected villages, to draw up suitable designs
and specifications for houses, to provide overall technical guidance to local authorities
in execution of these projects.

In addition to these, various study groups and expert committees appointed by

the central and state governments and by the United Nations also are engaged in
research and development activities. The reports brought out by these committees are
of great use to local agencies engaged in housing activities.

2.6 VOLUNTARY AGENCIES IN HOUSING:

In our country, there are very few voluntary agencies involved in housing
activity, like Lion‟s Club, Rotary Club etc. The scheme, which emphasises on self
55
help of the beneficiary families, is aided by Government and people at large. The
main focus is on the involvement of the service organisations and through them entire
people.
COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT PROGRAMME:
The term is defined by United Nations, refers to the process by which the
efforts of the people themselves are united with those of government authorities to
improve the economic, social and cultural conditions of the community.

LAY-OUT AND SUB-DIVISION REGULATIONS

Description Minimum width Remarks
(1) (2) (3)
A. Passage-
(i) In areas for
economically weaker
sections and for
continuous building area
(a) For single plot
1 .0 metres (40”) Nil

(b) For two to four plots The passage will remain

private
1.5 metres (60”)
(c) For more than four
plots small passage is not
permissible
(ii) When it is intended to The passage will remain
serve up to two plots private
3.0 metres (1 0‟)
(length of the passage
should not exceed 40
metres)
(iii) When it is intended to
serve up to four plots 3.6 metres (1 0‟)
(length of the passage
should not exceed 80 Do
metres)
(iv) When it is intended to
serve up to ten plots 4.8 metres (16‟) Do
(length of the passage
should not exceed 100
metres)

56
57
B. Street and roads— All streets shall become
public. The land owners /
(i) Streets intended to
developers shall hand over
serve not more than ten
these streets/roads portion
plots and/or subjected to a
through a deed to the local
maximum length of one
authority concerned after
hundred and twenty
forming the roads as per
metres.
7.2metres (24‟) specifications given under
relevant section of
Chennai City Municipal
Corporation Act or
Panchayat Act or
Tamilnadu District
Municipalities Act.
(ii) Streets intended to
serve not more than 9.0 metres (30‟) Do
twenty\plots and/or subject
to a maximum of 240 m
(iii) Roads of length more
than two hundred and forty 12.0 metres (4O) Do
metres but below four
hundred metres
(iv) Roads of length
between four hundred 1 8.0 metres (60‟) Do
metres to one thousand
metres
(v) Roads of length more
than one thousand metres
24.0 metres (80) Do

58