ABSTRACT
In this chapter the issue of delay is explored, including its causes and attempts both today and in the recent past to grapple with this recurrent problem. The case that planning intervention unduly impacts on the efficient operation of the market has long been a theme of debates surrounding the planning system. Most famously Michael Heseltine (1979) as the first Secretary of State for the Environment under the Thatcher governments complained that ‘thousands of jobs every night are locked away in the filing trays of planning departments’. The Circular that followed (22/80) made the unequivocal case that:
The magnitude of the investment at risk from delay is very large . . . Unnecessary delays in the development control system can result in wasted capital, delayed production, postponed employment, income, rates and taxes, and lower profitability. They can create a poor climate for future investment. Local planning authorities have a clear responsibility to minimise delay.
