ABSTRACT
This chapter considers how apparently innocuous, narrowly defined planning proposals can provoke a plethora of moral conflicts over territorial ideals. It aims to explore the variety of moral frames that are implicated in the negotiations over local policy, in this case planning for the housing of the future. The chapter argues that the morality of public service is implicit in individuals' relationships with their roles as public servants or politicians as well as citizens. However, it seems that competing moral priorities and discursive frameworks act to divide participants to planning policy processes, leading arguments to become tangles of misunderstanding rather than constructive debates. Early on in the preparation of the District Local Plan, planning was reviewed by a lowly subcommittee of the elected council, which discussed strategic approaches to the location of development in Aylesbury Vale. Since the 1960s, the village seems to have particularly attracted architects and planners, and awareness of the governance of planning has been high.
