Re-scaling, Integration and Competition: Future Challenges for Development Planning

摘要

Following devolution, the UK is undergoing a significant reassessment and rearrangement of its regulatory and spatial planning system and, in particular, its approach to development planning (Counsell et al., 2003). The UK and Scottish Parliaments, Welsh and Northern Irish Assemblies are all seeking to rethink the mechanisms and processes of land-use policy. In England, the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister (ODPM) has proposed that Regional Planning Guidance (RPG) and county structure plans will be replaced by a single tier of strategy called Regional Spatial Strategies (RSSs) prepared by Regional Planning Bodies. Such bodies will have a statutory duty to contribute towards sustainable development. RSSs will eventually incorporate the Regional Transport Strategies currently developed alongside RPG. The Scottish Executive has proposed the abolition of structure plans outside the four main city-regions, the re-shaping of such regions to reflect functional economic areas and the introduction of a strategic national overview document for planning (Scottish Executive, 2002). The Northern Irish Assembly has proposed regional-development frameworks (NIA, 2001a) while the Welsh Assembly favours integrating planning within a much broader sustainable development agenda (National Assembly for Wales, 2003).