The Planning Polity Planning, Government and the Policy Process

Planning is not a technical and value free activity. Planning is an overt political system that creates both winners and losers. The Planning Polity is a book that considers the politics of development and decision-making, and political conflicts between agencies and institutions within British town and country planning. The focus of assessment is how British planning has been formulated since the early 1990s, and provides an in-depth and revealing assessment of both the Major and Blair governments' terms of office. The book will prove to be an invaluable guide to the British planning system today and the political demands on it. Students and activists within urban and regional studies, planning, political science and government, environmental studies, urban and rural geography, development, surveying and planning, will all find the book to be an essential companion to their work.

1. Introduction. Part I: Political Ideology, Policy Relations and the Planning Process. 2. A Theoretical Context of Planning Policy. 3. The Politics of Planning Policy: The Major Era. 3. The Politics of Planning Policy: The Blair Era. 5. National, Regional and Local Planning Policy Relationships. Part Two: Planning Policy Conflicts in Government Relationships. 6. National Consistency in the Planning Policy Process. 7. Regional Certainty and Compatibility in the Planning Policy Process. 8. Local Discretion in the Planning Policy Process. 9. National Agendas and Planning Policy Variation: Wales vs. England. Part Three: Devolution, Distinctiveness and Planning Policy Development. 10. National Planning Policy and Devolution in Wales After 1999. 11. Devolution and Planning Policy Development in Scotland After 1999. 12. Planning Policy Within New Forms of Governance. 13. Conclusions.

Dr Mark Tewdwr-Jones is Reader in Spatial Planning and Governance at The Bartlett School of Planning, University College London. His specialist research interests are predominantly in the fields of planning, government and politics, and housing. He is the author of five books and over 70 academic papers and book chapters. He has been an advisor to Government departments and local authorities throughout the UK on town and country planning issues and is currently undertaking research for both the Welsh Assembly and the Countryside Agency in England.