ABSTRACT
The quote from Steve Quartermain encapsulates some key challenges for planning policymakers. If we are to have successful communities, decisions need to be made about what is ‘the right stuff’ – how many houses, how much shopping, new sources of employment, key services – where it should go, and how can it be put in place when it is needed. When we have new residential development, will the jobs and services be there to meet residents’ needs without the need to travel significant distances? This chapter looks at some of the factors involved in making decisions about policy to influence such matters, and at the policy guidance that has helped to shape such decisions. It does this by selecting policy areas which are the major users of land identified in plans to accommodate new development.
