ABSTRACT
The South East of England is the largest and most complex of the regional planning areas. The regional planning body for this area was The London and South East Regional Planning Conference (SERPLAN) which had been set up by the London County Council some 35 years ago to manage the relationships between London and its hinterland. SERPLAN's aim was to produce a strategy based on the concept of spatial planning, in as much as it went well beyond the land-use planning straitjacket of previous Regional Planning Guidance (RPGs). A Public Examination into SERPLAN's proposals was held in Canary Wharf for six weeks during the summer of 1999 under the chairmanship of Stephen Crow, as a means of exploring the issues surrounding RPG. SERPLAN's view was that the Panel's approach would stifle economic growth in the buoyant areas, as the resources to fund the necessary infrastructure and services failed to keep pace with development.
