ABSTRACT
The UK Government has taken up the challenge to integrate more closely the planning system with economic development and economic policy. In November 1999 the Government announced that the planning system will, for the first time, be required to promote competition. The Government, in its 1999 Pre-Budget Report, confirmed that it will expect both Regional Planning Guidance and local authority development plans to specifically address issues of competitiveness, enterprise, innovation and economic growth. The 1999 Pre-Budget Report emphasised that a dynamic enterprise culture is the key to increasing the rate of innovation in the economy. Planning at a national scale is closely linked to planning at the European level. This chapter provides a map of the current Member states of the EU, and the applicant states, which focus on Central and Eastern Europe. The UK has a comprehensive system of spatial planning, at international, national, regional, metropolitan and local level.
