A recent report from the ESRC called Changes in regional planning : a new opportunity for sustainable development looks at whether increased policy devolution would see variation emerge across the regions in the practice of regional planning and in particular in how the theme of sustainable development was addressed.
The findings seem to suggest that:
The general approach to sustainable development in Regional Planning Guidance is having an influence on local plan making, at least in terms of the starting points for debates.
There is still some way to go to achieve consensus on key concepts and principles for sustainable development.
Sustainable development was useful as a key testing ground for ideas, but its very malleability made it a term which tended to exasperate as often as it helped in clarifying debates.
"In terms of integrating the economic, social and environmental aspects of sustainable development, the RPG public examination system proved a valuable place for airing debates about so-called ‘win-win-win’ approaches, as enthusiastically propounded by Jonathon Porritt on the first day of the South West RPG examination, to the initial consternation of the regional planning body"...This approach represents an important shift in planning, although at present more evident in strategic documents than in practice on the ground.
Countryside lobbyists were particularly successful in retaining greenbelt and resisting attempts to develop on greenfield sites more generally. However an important shift in the debate has emerged, as the media and others began to highlight the plight of low income workers, particularly those in the public sector in the south east, as they sought to find affordable homes.
