ABSTRACT
The British development control system is in many ways a curious creature. The 1947 Town and Country Planning Act that gave birth to the system in its current form, provided for both a hierarchy of plans and a method of overseeing individual development decisions that was loosely based on the policy that the plans presented. However, there was no guarantee of rights to develop nor any certainty that permission would be forthcoming if applied for. Moreover, the whole concept of control was defined to include not only buildings, but also changes of use, even if no construction work was involved. Wide-ranging control, absence of any certainty for landowners and developers, and considerable leeway accorded to development control decision-makers, are the hallmarks of the British system. In all these characteristics, it stands apart from the systems of most of its European partners. However, the system does embrace a variety of different ends, which, if not necessarily in conflict, at least has a very varied impact on the way the system works. The origins of this bundle of contradictions, tensions and diverging objectives, subsumed into a single administrative process, require exploration.
