In the years towards the end of WW2, there was a general concern to prepare citywide plans for post war reconstruction and development, and a Town and Country Planning Board was established in 1944. In 1949 the "Town and Country Planning (Metropolitan Area) Act" gave the MMBW authority to prepare a comprehensive plan for the metropolitan area of Melbourne, and in 1954 the Board was made the ongoing chief planning authority for metropolitan Melbourne. The Board had made a thorough study of land use and infrastructure in Melbourne and produced the Melbourne Metropolitan Planning Scheme 1954 which recommended amongst other things land-use zoning, a system of freeways and bypasses, and a park system.