ABSTRACT
It is more difficult to generalise about the record of local plan preparation than has been possible in the case of Structure Plans for the work of the District Councils has so far been extremely varied. Relatively few comprehensive District Plans have materialised, at least in the sense of containing broad statements of policy on how a wide range of problems and issues will be approached, for such plans are meant to complement and develop upon the Structure Plans, many of which have themselves only relatively recently been approved. What we find instead, for the most part, therefore, are a number of Interim Plans for individual topics, many of which are rather short documents giving official acceptance to the recommendations made in advisory reports prepared by consultants or other outside bodies. Where there has been more progress of a formal kind at the local level, it is to be found in the numerous Action-Area and Subject Plans prepared, the majority of them dealing with environmental improvements to town centres and the inner city. These more specific types of plans are not considered in this chapter, however, but will be referred to later in Part III of the book which is devoted to special planning concerns. Our attention here remains focused on those plans, or more correctly the supporting studies, that are aimed at managing affairs throughout a District's (or large urban centre's) territory as a whole.
