ABSTRACT
This chapter deals with local planning for sport and leisure, i.e. the considerations that government in particular lays down for the effective and appropriate planning of sport and leisure provision and development. Business planning, by individual organisations for a new sport or leisure development, is included in Chapter 21. Local planning is not irrelevant to commercial and third sector businesses, however, because any commercial sport and leisure development will be influenced by local plans. Local plans will also affect local communities more generally, because a key element in their construction is how accessible sport and leisure facilities and amenities are, and whether they fit local needs. Government planning has always been concerned, albeit often peripherally, with the provision of facilities for leisure. The evolution of the planning movement was closely associated with the nineteenth-century fight for the retention of open spaces and commons, which were threatened by unplanned urban development. The movement has evolved from a concern for public health, education and moral standards to problems of inner cities and countryside recreation and conservation. Leisure planning as a discipline in its own right is not a new phenomenon. Indeed, leisure planning was at the forefront of the planning of the Garden Cities in the UK by Ebenezer Howard in the early twentieth century. This chapter is not a text for planners but instead it provides information about planning processes and systems, and also reviews practical techniques for sport and leisure planning.
