This paper seeks to explore the influence of international, European and national environmental law on the English planning system. It will examine how far the wide aspirations for "spatial planning" have been realised in the environmental sphere. It contends that "soft law" and policy statements may well have had as much impact on the decision-making process as coercive laws, and that what has been achieved is a process of structuring decision-making. It argues that the corpus of environmental law has had two important effects at the level of substantive planning law, in expanding the scope of the planning system while narrowing the discretion of decision-makers. The impact of EU environmental law has also had a profound effect upon the ability of persons successfully to challenge planning decisions in the high court. It explains why further work in this direction is probably desirable. Lastly, it calls for cross-disciplinary empirical research into the impact of existing laws upon the decision-making process.
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