Alan Prior

UK Planning Reform: A Regulationist Interpretation

This article examines recent initiatives to reform the planning system in the UK. It adopts a Regulationist approach to locating the reform initiatives in a political-economic context and assessing their scale and nature. The main concepts and arguments of the Regulationist approach are summarized, then applied in interpreting three main phases of UK planning ‘modernization’. It is concluded that planning reform has been conducted in a poorly understood context, whilst shackled to the legacy of its immediate post-war origins. Consequently, key elements of the UK planning system appear increasingly adrift from contemporary conditions, and outmoded in relation to new imperatives. The Regulationist approach offers a point of departure in the search for planning frameworks addressed to contemporary challenges.

Is green belt fit for purpose in a post-Fordist landscape?

The relationship between state intervention in land and property markets, and the socioeconomic drivers of those markets, has a long tradition of intellectual enquiry (e.g. Hall et al., 1973; Bramley et al., 1995; Knaap, 2001; Hall, 2002; Adams & Watkins, 2002; Squires, 2002). A central concern has been to understand the contingencies of processes of capital accumulation and the relevance of state intervention in balancing private and public development interests. Periodically, such concerns stimulate reform of state intervention mechanisms (e.g. see Booth, 2003, on France; Hajer & Zonnefeld, 2000, or Wolsink, 2003, on the Netherlands; Suh, 2003, on South Korea; Prior, 2005, or Webster, 2005, on the UK). Indeed, Webster (2005, p. 455) suggests that ‘urban planning is constantly in tension, always evolving and forever re-inventing itself’. But in what way is urban planning in tension, and why does this necessitate continual reinvention? One explanation is provided by political economy perspectives, in particular the Régulation School.

Does planning deregulation threaten the environment? The effect of 'permitted development' on the natural heritage of Scotland

Abstract This paper reports research into the effect on the UK environment of the deregulation of land development controls. One form of deregulation is granting advance approval to specified classes of small-scale development because they are considered inconsequential. Previous research has indicated that such ‘permitted development’ may adversely affect the natural heritage. This study systematically investigated its impact on the natural heritage of Scotland. The study canvassed the opinions of agents best placed to comment: natural heritage authority field staff, local government planners and representatives of non-governmental organizations. The results revealed concern about permitted development as a whole, and about specified classes. Despite professed concerns about sustainable development, UK planning modernization has failed to grasp the opportunity for a radical and fundamental reform of the scope of UK planning control in the context of contemporary environmental issues. Accordingly, there remains an unresolved tension between the desire to remove unnecessary state regulation of land development and the protection of the natural heritage.