ABSTRACT
So far, we have looked at the systems of controlling development in Britain and France as the unique product of the particular cultures of each country. In particular, we noted the traditions of law and administration had a direct bearing on the way in which development control systems had emerged and indeed on the central preoccupations of decision-makers. But Britain and France do not exist in isolation, and, as members of the European Union, they have increasingly been forced to consider systems of planning in other member-states. From the mid-1980s there has been a debate about what could be learned from other parts of Europe and whether there was scope for a unified planning system. In Britain, the publication of a major report on planning control in five member countries of the European Union in 1989 was a stimulus to this debate (Davies et al. 1989). Groups such as the Association of the European Schools of Planning (AESOP) and the European Town Planning Association have been instrumental in ensuring that common interests in both policy and process continue to be explored. There is an important case, therefore, for placing the British and French systems of control in the context of Europe.
