| Short Title: | Special Areas (Development and Improvement) Act 1934 |
| Type: | Act |
| Parliament: | Parliament of the United Kingdom |
| Long Title: | An Act to provide for the initiation, organisation, prosecution and assistance of measures designed to facilitate the economic development and social improvement of certain areas which have been specially affected by industrial depression; for the appointment of Commissioners for those purposes; and for purposes connected with the matters aforesaid. |
| Year: | 1934 |
| Citation: | 25 & 26 Geo. 5. c. 1 |
| Royal Assent: | 21 December 1934 |
| Amendments: | Special Areas (Amendment) Act 1937 |
The Special Areas (Development and Improvement) Act 1934 was an Act of Parliament which gave aid to the areas of Britain which had the highest unemployment rates in the 1930s.[1]
Areas which benefited included South Wales, Tyneside, Cumberland and southern Scotland; but not Lancashire.[2] There were two unpaid commissioners, one for Scotland, one for England and Wales, given responsibility to spend £2 million via the local authorities concerned. A further £3 million was added in 1936, and £3.5 million was included in the estimates for 1937. "The powers of the commissioners included a wide range of activities on general economic development and on social improvement in the Special Areas, but they were expressly precluded by Parliament from giving assistance to private enterprise carried on for gain".[3]
The subject of the Special Areas was a main election issue at the 1935 General Election.[4]
The Special Areas (Amendment) Act 1937 extended the Act.