ABSTRACT
Town and country spatial planning is deeply embedded in the operation of central and local government in the UK and, indeed, in the psyche of the nation. From its origins in public health and housing policy, its scope has widened to encompass and interact with almost all government policy. Planning processes are open and participatory, and decisions are universally respected. Planning is praised by those whose interests and quality of life it protects and condemned by those whose objectives are frustrated. It can facilitate great wealth creation and obstruct investment in equal measure. It is not surprising, therefore, that there is perpetual competition over who controls its policies, its operation and interests served. The result has been an endless and accelerating process of review and reform. Consequently, planning in the UK has changed significantly since 1990, though arguably the fundamental characteristics remain the same. Modifications to the underlying ‘planning doctrine’ have had a lasting effect, but some principles are beyond review. Notions such as urban containment and heritage conservation have become fixed as conventional wisdom. The key turning points in change have tended to correspond to changes
in government, but all administrations tend to be schizophrenic about planning, since it can both help and hinder the objectives of sector departments. One consistent objective of successive administrations has been to simplify and streamline planning, mostly without success. In this chapter, we begin with an explanation of the key characteristics of town and country planning (and spatial planning) in the UK, and a summary of the main challenges facing government and planning authorities from the 1990s. We then identify and review three broad periods of change: the introduction of a plan-led approach in the 1990s; the emergence of spatial planning in the 2000s; and the accent on localism from 2010.
