ABSTRACT
This chapter first outlines the history of attempts to plan the major metropolitan regions of Britain. it then identifies the major roles performed by metropolitan strategic planning. Most of the major regions of Britain were the subject of one or more regional planning schemes during the 1920s and 1930s. Many of these characteristics and policy elements of the metropolitan planning schemes of the 1920s and 1930s provided inspiration for the larger scale and more comprehensive exercise undertaken during the period after the Second World War. The 1980s saw a further erosion of the powers of the structure plan. The structure plan system had expanded considerably in terms of both its subject coverage and the level of detail provided. Multi-sector integration implies three specific levels of co-ordination: political; methodological and technical; and administrative and organisational. All three aspects of integration are necessary in order to ensure that a strategic planning solution is both comprehensive and consistent.
