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In-Depth Information
hazardous for their continued use.
67
Similarly, decision rules on pro-
posed development would add force to the stress-reducing mechanisms
by setting absolute constraints on growth. The rules would prevent land
uses that could impact negatively on ecosystems, including by affecting
places identi
ed as being of importance for their functionality during the
environmental analysis stage of plan-making.
68
Their use emphasises the
need for a prioritisation of structural over spatial
xes by making it clear
that there are ultimate restrictions on the availability of spatial resources,
and that these will be encountered if dif
cult choices are not made in
advance concerning the societal need for actions to be taken or resources
appropriated.
5.3 A national framework for ecological planning
It will be apparent from the references I have made to it in the preceding
sections that the planning system in England and Wales is ill-equipped
to promote the pursuit of environmental goals. Its sectoral role as the
mechanism through which the government
'
s land use policies are
applied limits its in
uence to allocating spatial resources rather than
questioning the need or environmental desirability of proposed activ-
ities.
69
Its objective of advancing sustainable development and the vul-
nerability of plans to being bypassed if other material considerations
sway decision-makers provide an inadequate, and, as we have seen, easily
challengeable mandate for advancing and implementing environmen-
tally progressive or socially equitable visions of development in regions
and localities.
70
The legal separation of regional and local planning from
planning for infrastructure undermines the system
s ability to coordi-
nate development or to deliver coherent accounts of how the nation
'
'
s
cends.
71
Finally, the system
resources might be used to serve speci
'
s
67
68
Chapter 3,
Section 3.3.2.4
.
Chapter 5,
Section 5.3.5
.
69
Owens,
'
Negotiated Environments
'
, 576; Blowers,
'
Society and Sustainability
'
,pp.158
-
9;
Owens and Cowell,
'
Land and Limits
'
,1stedn,pp.43
-
4; Stallworthy,
'
Sustainability,
,p.102.
70
Owens and Cowell,
Land Use
'
'
Land and Limits
'
,1stedn,pp.24
-
5; Haughton and Counsell,
,pp.56,59.
71
Chapter 4,
Section 4.6.2
. The Royal Commission on Environmental Pollution,
'
'
Regions, Spatial Strategies
'
, p. 144 para 10.7 cites the separation of infrastructure plan-
ning from regional and local planning and the resulting
Environmental Planning
'
'
lack of coherence
'
as a
'
serious
de
ciency
of the planning system. The critical analysis of national planning initiatives
pursued by the UK
'
'
s Coalition Government in C. Wong et al.,
'
A Map for England:
Spatial Expression of Government Policies and Programmes
'
(
2012
)TheTown
