ABSTRACT
Conservation is an elusive subject to address in an analysis of political influences in planning. To a considerable extent the key trend has been continuity. Legislative and administrative systems for conserving the built environment had been put in place long before 1979, operating on both national and local scales. Key high-profile heritage events, which served both to raise consciousness of the importance of conservation and to shape future approaches, had already happened: including European Architectural Heritage Year in 1975, and the shock sale of Mentmore Towers in 1977 (see House of Commons (1978) for a critical commentary on this key event). Conservation since 1979 simply continued along lines already laid down.
