ABSTRACT
Sustainability and the related term “sustainable development” are very fashionable. They are to be found in the Rio Declaration adopted at the Earth Summit. There is a new Sustainable Development Commission at the United Nations. It is in the title of the European Commission’s Fifth Environmental Action Programme “Towards sustainability” (CEC 1992a). In the Environment White Paper annual report (HM Government 1992), sustainability is described as the cornerstone of national policy on the environment. Indeed, the government has published a sustainable development strategy for the UK (HM Government 1994c). A key conclusion of all of these documents is that land-use planning has a central role to play in achieving sustainable development. For some, these changes represent a new paradigm for planning practice, whereas others argue that sustainability is merely a new label for a range of concerns that have always been central to both planning law and policy.
