Thatcherism and Planning: The Case of Simplified Planning Zones

First published in 1997, this volume explores how, seventeen years after the election of the first Thatcher government, it is clear that despite the attacks, land use planning has survived. Talk during the 1980s of the death of planning and a bonfire of controls seem in hindsight distant and alarmist. Planning now has a new lease of life and is once again firmly on the government’s agenda. So what happened during the 1980s? How did planning come to experience such a radical change in fortune? Philip Allmendinger explores the impact and influence of the New Right’s intentions for planning through arguably the most Thatcherite approach of all: Simplified Planning Zones (SPZs). In doing so he identifies the contradictions and confusion at the heart of Thatcherism that led to vague legislation and objectives allowing localities to interpret Thatcherism for themselves often using policies such as SPZs for reasons very different than those intended.