ABSTRACT
This chapter presents an argument about contemporary regional environmental planning in two European states, one northern, one Mediterranean. It provides some historical-geographical perspective on two policy sectors: regional planning and three infrastructure sectors, which are particularly important for environmental policy and regional planning - energy, water and land. The relations between infrastructure and regional planning are explored in two contexts, Spain and the UK. These have the advantage of giving, at a very broad level, some idea of north-south variation within Western Europe. The West Midlands governmental agencies have little control over the region's water resources, and in Catalonia the Generalitat's control is only partial; it has significant powers over pricing and investment, but must defer to Madrid in key inter-basin issues and overall standards. In Catalonia the main concerns are prices to consumers and the maintenance of adequate supplies.
