The UK government of Tony Blair is committed to fostering a European dimension of planning practice. Significant developments in relation to planning within Europe are occurring. The creation of the European Spatial Development Perspective, the reform of the Structural Funds, and the implementation of programmes to foster trans-national co-operation between governments, will all impact on UK government, and on planning system in particular. Even within the UK, devolution and regionalisation will bring new pressures for overall co-ordination on the issue of European spatial planning. Issues...

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...