ABSTRACT
The 1947 Town and Country Planning Act brought all land under a system of development plans and the control of development. The scope of planning in relation to conservation of the built environment was significantly extended in 1967 by the Civic Amenities Act. The Countryside Commission replaced the National Parks Commission in 1968, with a wider brief. Public participation was introduced in the Town and Country Planning Act 1968 in order to provide the means whereby planning decisions would have greater public acceptability. The legislation which is the basis of the present development-plan system is the Town and Country Planning Act 1971, although this has been amended since, especially by the Local Government Act 1972 and the Local Government, Planning and Land Act 1980. Northern Ireland is governed directly by the UK government, and its planning service is run by a government department and not by local authorities as elsewhere in the UK.
