ABSTRACT
This introduction presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters of this book. The book explores the influence of Thatcherism on planning. Ministers are often stating their support for the planning system while simultaneously introducing initiatives such as Urban Development Corporations or Simplified Planning Zones, which undermine it. It shows that the initiatives are not minor experiments but amount to a reorientation of the planning system through a strategy of consistent incremental erosion. The book describes the way planning has had to respond to the challenge of a more market-oriented ideology. It examines the implications for planning of the collapse of this consensus and the rise of Thatcherism. The book addresses the extent to which such ideas have influenced government and provided a longer-term hidden agenda behind the incremental initiatives. It focuses on the planning system, that is the legislation, Circulars and other material that determine the basis of the development plan and development control procedures.
