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impinge on the functioning of liberalised markets than that states lack
the ability to give direction to non-governmental actors. The planning
system I propose, when coupled with the framework for policy-making,
employs the full range of legislative and regulatory authority available to
the state by which market behaviour might be shaped. It represents a
partial return to the state-led planning of the 1950s and the 1960s, but
with the state
s historic role of enactor of policies being replaced by that
of choreographer of the actions of public and private bodies in the
interests of promoting ecologically desirable outcomes. 8
I refer to land use planning in England and Wales throughout this
chapter as an example of a systemwhose capacities have been reduced by
successive waves of reform. These have largely been driven by the
perception of planning by UK governments since the late 1970s as a
drag on economic growth rather than a potential force for the public
good. 9 I also use analysis of its inadequacies for preventing environ-
mentally damaging development to draw general conclusions as to the
properties that a planning system should possess if it is to contribute
effectively to a system of ecological governance.
The chapter focuses on terrestrial planning as long experience with
this in England and Wales (stretching back to the
'
rst introduction of a
comprehensive regime for land use planning in 1947) enables an
informed critique of its effectiveness for protecting ecosystems. That
does not mean that planning for the marine environment is unimportant
in ecological governance. To the contrary, it is vital for the system
s
effectiveness that terrestrial and marine planning should be coordinated
in the search for means of reducing pressures that human activities place
on the environment. 10 ItismorethecasethatIlackthetimeandspaceto
do justice in this topic to the features of marine spatial planning that
distinguish it from its terrestrial equivalent. That said, the stress-
reducing thrust of the statutory objective, and the principles and rules
for planning that I propose in this chapter could equally be applied to
allocating space for and authorising the conduct of activities offshore.
'
8 Tewdwr-Jones, Gallent and Morphet,
'
Anatomy of Spatial Planning
'
, 254. My descrip-
tion of the state
'
s role in an ecological planning system adapts the authors
'
portrayal of
its relationship with other actors in spatial planning.
9 Baker and Wong,
'
The Delusion of Strategic Spatial Planning
'
,97
-
8; A. Lord and
M. Tewdwr-Jones,
'
Is Planning
under attack
? Chronicling the Deregulation of
Urban and Environmental Planning in England
'
(2014) 22 European Planning Studies,
345
-
61; Owens and Cowell,
'
Land and Limits
'
, 2nd edn, pp. 3
-
4, 8
-
10.
10 Chapter 4, Section 4.7 .
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