ABSTRACT
This rather complacent attitude towards the distributive trades, however, needs to be looked at against the background of what types of planning interventions have actually occurred. Generally speaking, retail and commercial planning policies to date have been almost solely concerned with guiding the implementation of development controls. The chief question addressed by central government has been whether to continue concentrating new large investments in existing places or to encourage a more dispersed pattern of resources particularly into suburban localities. The preoccupations of local authorities have been with determining the precise sites for new developments, improving the physical conditions of outworn facilities and estimating the overall amount of floorspace devoted to retailing and commercial uses which any urban area can support. While these central considerations have often been dealt with through a distinctive research programme, typically concerned with an assessment of the existing health of the retail and commercial stock within an area, the point of emphasis in the planning approach has been on establishing a set of land use controls rather than formulating some wider socio-economic goals.
