ABSTRACT
Leverage planning is the use of public investment to stimulate a weak or flagging private market in land and property development. As we pointed out in Chapter 2, this is an established aspect of the British planning system, in forms ranging from house improvement grants to Assisted Areas. But only in the 1980s has leverage become one of the principal approaches to the regeneration of declining urban areas. From being a relatively minor part of planning, leverage has become a mainstream activity which looks set to expand its role even further. Already, leverage planning has generated new institutional forms and distinctive political features. Its implications for urban renewal, in terms of the renewal process, the pattern of redevelopment and the social groups likely to benefit, are becoming clear. In short, we can identify the principal features of leverage as a planning style.
