ABSTRACT
The levering of planning gains or contributions from the development process has been one of the most aggressively debated topics in British planning during the last 30 years. For some, it represents the best way of harnessing the economic power of development for social gain. For others, it is little more than negotiated corruption (see Healey et al., 1993 for a discussion of attitudes), a mechanism by which planning permission can be sold to the highest bidder, or a strategy enabling central government to shirk its responsibility for meeting social needs. In this chapter, the intended purpose of planning gain is examined, before focusing on three specific topics, namely
• How gain, in general, is being used at the present time, drawing on recent studies; • The use of gain to procure affordable housing within market housing schemes – this
is assigned particular attention given the overall purpose of the book; • Some continuing problems and controversies which envelop the present system,
drawing on the survey analysis.
