Climate change, disaster risks to be included in town planning Act in Tamil Nadu

Planners drafting the Town and Country Planning Act, of 1971, would have hardly thought about climate change and disaster risks five decades ago. Now these will be part of the new amendments to the Act, which is likely to be introduced soon.

Under the new Act, the nomenclature Tamil Nadu Town and Country Planning Act will also undergo change. It will be known as the Tamil Nadu Regional and Urban Planning and Development Act, of 2023. Prepared by Ahmedabad-based CEPT Research & Development Foundation, (CRDF), the proposed Act, considering the future trajectory, will focus on new areas such as economic growth, climate change, disaster risks etc, official sources said.

The major thrust in the Act is regional plans, which were provided in the previous Act but never implemented. Regional plans help deliver environmental, economic and social outcomes that are driven by the needs of communities and their environment. It deals with the planning of areas that constitute both urban and rural areas. Regional plans of large urban development authorities may propose new towns. Once the government approves such proposals, respective agencies may be directed to undertake development plans for new towns.

Sources said the new satellite towns announced by the state government are planned with an aim to reduce carbon footprint and to have a power supply leveraging on green power sources. They said the new Act has provisions for regional planning authority, which was not created previously. The authority, headed by a chairman who will be appointed by the government, will also have a senior official of the Department of economics and Statistics nominated by the director of the department.

According to the proposed draft, the proposals of regional plans will have to be translated into actions and investments of multiple sectoral agencies. A regional plan implementation cell is being mooted for this purpose either within the regional planning authority or the directorate of town and country planning.

The proposed new Act also suggests a UK model where a ‘guidance note’ is introduced from time to time. These guidance notes are distinct from the statutory rules. DTCP may adopt the practice of issuing technical guidance notes related to new techniques and practices to be followed by the planning authorities.

Factfile

Tamil Nadu Town and Country Planning Act came into force in 1972 The purpose of the Act is to ensure planned development and use of rural and urban land in the state

The Act has undergone many amendments incorporating new sections, modifying existing sections and giving statutory backing to some of the executive decisions. The last amendment was made in 2022

The Act has regularly been subjected to the scrutiny of courts, particularly Sections 113, 113-A, 113-B and 113 -C

The present Act does not provide for township development policy, norms and standards for social facilities, no time frame for approval is fixed and followed. As a result, a large number of unauthorised and violated buildings have come up outside the framework of the Act