ABSTRACT
This chapter will show that major investment plans for inter-city and local railway services were developed in the 1970s, but that the policy response by the planning system was limited: the main thrust was towards restricting the location of major trip generators to town and city centres which, by and large, were well served by rail. However, because of the lengthy statutory planning process, by the time these policies were formally adopted, Mrs Thatcher’s government was in power and had no intention of constraining the property market in this way.
