ABSTRACT
The hope was strong that the return of a Labour administration to power with a massive majority in 1997 would have a largely beneficial impact on planning. Development control itself did not appear to be high on the government’s agenda, but the emphasis on community participation and the need for a regional tier of government which would have a responsibility for strategic policy, in both economic development and land-use planning, seemed to augur well for the future. And yet there were from the beginning worrying signs that 1997 might not see the hoped for revolution in attitudes. In 1992, the Party’s election manifesto had included a commitment to introduce third party rights of appeal against ‘developments which fly in the face of their local plan’ (Dale, 2000, p. 332). The introduction of third party rights continued to be Labour policy after the election (Crow, 1995). But the Labour Party was moving away from the idea. Although the 1997 manifesto promised that the European Convention on Human Rights would be incorporated into British law, the reference to a third party right of appeal on planning decisions had disappeared. Then, too, the commitment to directly elected regional assemblies evaporated immediately after the election, not be revived until 2002. On the other hand, the introduction of an examination in public for Regional Planning Guidance in the same way as for Structure Plans suggested that the Labour government did intend to honour its pledge to involve the public to a greater degree in public policy-making.
