ABSTRACT
There is a clear expectation in UK legislation, and on the part of local people, that it should be the responsibility of the LPA to ‘manage’ conservation areas, with regard to enhancement, guiding development, and development control. Authorities which are not seen to be carrying out such actions are subject to sharp criticism, as in Reade’s commentary on the problems of management and the lack of investment and enhancement in the conservation area of Upper Bangor (Reade 1991, 1992a, 1992b). Yet, equally clearly, in practice there are problems with priorities and funding for direct intervention in conservation areas, for example where an individual LPA has a large number of designations. Not every area can thus expect large amounts of public investment and enhancement. All areas, however, are subject to the nationwide processes of control over development, and LPAs should exercise their guiding and controlling functions in each designated area. The function of this chapter is to examine both facets of LPA activity: the direct intervention in terms of ‘enhancement’, and indirect action in terms of controlling development, in particular with respect to the relationship between development control decisions and stated conservation policies.
