National planning - Transport Policy and Planning in Great Britain - page 275

Box 17.1 Stages in an idealised planning process

• Reviewing existing and prospective future conditions
• Agreeing aims and objectives
• Identifying opportunities/constraints for achieving these
• Generating possible options (packages of complementary measures)
• Establishing the likely consequences of pursuing each option
• Appraising options relative to objectives and in the light of political, inancial and
practical issues surrounding their delivery
• Selecting a preferred option.

managing processes which marry political aspirations with administrative and legal
requirements whilst minimising the adverse effects of technical and communicative
sub-optimality.
As planners we need to be careful not to overstate the significance of formalised
planning exercises within the wider context of governance (Figure 17.1). The
'mainstream' activity of organisations is the ongoing business of responding to
conditions, deliberating on choices, making and then implementing decisions.
Planning exercises proceed in parallel, often over a longer time-frame. Those that
are required by law or which are an administrative requirement of Government will
feed into deliberations, both as specific proposals and as a general policy background
against which day-to-day decision-making is conducted. Authorities may of course
commission additional planning studies to inform their decision-making (including a
general monitoring and intelligence capability) but not everyone will view these as a
fruitful use of time and money - some politicians and promoters have a clear idea of
what needs doing and just want to get on with doing it!
Without the requirement to produce plans and to act in accordance with
them, decision-takers will certainly find themselves under pressure to 'cut corners'
and 'muddle through'. They are more likely to focus on a succession of immediate
problems and deal with them on a one-off basis within a narrow set of criteria. Possible
alternatives and inter-relationships will not be properly explored and no systematic
assessment undertaken of effectiveness and wider impacts. In the interests of trying to
get something done they may well seek to press ahead with a particular proposal only
to find that, when it comes to the nitty gritty of implementation, the necessary public
support and cooperation of other stakeholders has not been secured. Issues come to
light which suggest that perhaps the proposal is not such a good idea as it seemed at
first. Opposition mushrooms and very likely the whole scheme backfires and has to go
'back to the drawing board'.

Monitoring Planning Plans [policies and proposals]

CONDITIONS DELIBERATIONS DECISIONS DELIVERY

[outcomes]

Figure 17.1 Planning and plans in the wider context of governance