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This paper provides an empirical review of a widely used tool in the English planning system - pre-application discussions (‘pre-apps’) and a theoretical exposition of governmental ‘logics’ that underpin neoliberal-informed planning reforms. We present five logic frames of growth,\ud efficiency, commercialisation, participation and quality, and apply these to pre-application negotiation practice, to highlight how Local Planning Authorities (LPAs) and public sector planners are faced with the challenge of reconciling a complex of multiple and often competing aims that appear irreconcilable in practice. We highlight that whilst ‘ordinary’ planning tools such as pre-apps may appear mundane, they can provide valuable instantiations where all the logics collide. The example of pre-application negotiations highlight how neoliberal logics of growth, efficiency and commercialisation often work to overshadow a range of more traditional planning concerns (including public participation and quality of development). Such framings also assist in evaluating why ongoing planning reforms create frustration when local outcomes do not line up with attempts to align planning to ideologically inspired logics set out nationally. We contend that such reform attempts, when based on ideological parameters alone, ignore\ud the trade-offs that LPAs and planners have to make regarding such different (competing) goals, audiences and interests that operate within the planning system. Until governments\ud accept the trade-offs that their political rationalities and reforms impose on planning systems, and the subsequent deficiencies of the specific policy tools that follow from them, these logics will continue to collide in practice; with the strongest for growth dominating others and local\ud governments and public planners unable to resolve the tensions. This theory and practice framing highlights how neoliberal thought pervades the planning system and tools in England; and further research could examine and reflect on how these logics are operationalised and sustained across different policy contexts and planning spaces in order to deepen knowledge on how neoliberal planning agendas are shaped and promoted or challenged internationally.

We report the results of a qualitative longitudinal case study that lends credence not only to the need to reflect on competing values and outcomes of the politics and legitimation processes involved in practicing “food justice”. The study highlights ideological pluralism, pragmatism and compromise inherent to the actually occurring experiences of actors involved in organisations ostensibly created to serve a food justice agenda. This has implications for the sort of academic filters prefigured into analytical frameworks for the study of transition processes. Such filters may pre-empt criteria against which practices are judged legitimate or indeed ‘effective’. We draw on two distinct bodies of literature exhibiting useful complementarities and develop an argument around the idea of ‘liminal transition spaces’ where the institutional arrangements of an organisation may be deemed futile or unattainable, but their substitution remains uncertain. Firstly, ‘institutional logics’ and secondly, pragmatist sociology is used to advance the idea of institutional liminality, and to open a debate on the role and long-term sustainability of transition entrepreneurship among pluralist organisations.

Neighbourhood planning was the first volunteer-led statutory planning tool to be created in the UK. Whilst it has provoked debate and critique covering numerous practical and theoretical aspects (Wargent and Parker, 2018), little attention has been paid to the actual experience and motives of the volunteers who spend their leisure time by volunteering to prepare a plan. Given the range of leisure activities that have been shaped in the context of a neo-liberalised policy environment we add to longstanding debates concerning the political nature of leisure and how neo-liberal policies require, and exploit, volunteer time and input while claiming to offer forms of empowerment. Qualitative data derived from neighbourhood plan volunteers is presented here to highlight the political work of neighbourhood planning, thus responding to calls to extend the analysis of the political in and through leisure (Rose et al, 2018). It is argued that neighbourhood planning pushes the boundaries of what can be legitimately asked of volunteers and expected in terms of delivering policy outcomes.

This paper draws together new research findings with recent evidence, theory, and policy developments relating to place-based planning for health and wellbeing. It considers how Neighbourhood Planning (NP) can support the advancement of the ageing well agenda and wellbeing goals in rural areas of England. We argue that NP can theoretically impact positively on age-friendly objectives (sensitive housing design, downsizing options, social and civic participation), but this is limited without greater incentives and political commitment to integrated policymaking. Without due attention the advancement of ageing well and rural wellbeing through NP, as currently constructed, will remain a largely missed opportunity. Keywords: ageing, localism, neighbourhood, public health, planning, rural, wellbeing

Neighbourhood planning is arguably the most radical innovation in UK local governance in a\ud generation, with over 2,200 communities in England now involved in statutory development\ud planning at the neighbourhood level. Following incremental policy reforms, we argue that neighbourhood\ud planning has reached a critical juncture where the future of the initiative is at stake. In\ud this paper we reflect on existing research to assess the policy to date before imagining what an\ud optimised version of the policy might look like. Despite being a state-led initiative, central government\ud has failed to provide an image of success for neighbourhood planning which we argue\ud has held back widespread innovation and progressive participation. We therefore outline a normative\ud guide against which future iterations of neighbourhood planning might be assessed, and\ud employ this in order to imagine a more comprehensive form of neighbourhood governance.

The paper reviews the literature on advocacy planning and interweaves empirical evidence drawn from staff and volunteers of Planning Aid England to reconsider its basis and effectiveness. Forms of ‘neo-advocacy’ planning are deemed necessary given the continuing under-representation of lower-income groups and other minority groups in planning and in an era of neo-liberal policy. The attention of policymakers and of the planning profession more widely should be given to how neo-advocacy functions are sustained. It is concluded that the aims of Planning Aid are so important to the legitimacy and effectiveness of planning that it needs to be placed on a more secure footing.

Neighbourhood planning was formally enabled as a statutory part of the English planning system under the Localism Act 2011. This element of formal planning has generated significant interest as it actively requires local communities to lead on producing a Neighbourhood Development Plan (NDP) and is widely recognised as formalising co-produced planning. The paper reflects on research undertaken with a sample of neighbourhoods active in producing a neighbourhood plan, and develops a critical discussion about the experience of those participants. The findings highlight that existing power relations, national priorities, the framing of neighbourhood planning regulations, local political tensions and local resource constraints affect the emerging practices of neighbourhood planners in England. Many groups have adopted conservative positions or are finding their NDPs are being limited by consultants, local authorities or examiners, often concerned with how the NDPs will fare in the contested environment of planning and development in neo-liberal times. While some have contended that neighbourhood planning can form part of a progressive localism and there is some hope for such participatory spaces, our view is that innovation is being constrained if not entirely suppressed. We conclude that reform to neighbourhood planning is needed if it is to realise the ambitions of inclusive, empowered and responsible planning at the very local scale.

The Future of the Planning Profession: Planning With Many Changes, and for Many Challenges Gavin Parker University of Reading, Reading, UK This Interface emerged from a symposium on the future of t...

This chapter studies the role of private consultants in the reformed English planning system and their impacts on the shaping of local policy priorities and practices. First, the chapter sets out the recent political context that has precipitated the rise of the ‘consultocracy’ across public services and planning in particular. Second, it outlines how the use of consultants has become ‘naturalized’ as part of the multi-change planning environment that now characterises English planning. Third, the chapter introduces interview data concerning Local Plan-making to show the scope of consultant involvement and the importance of uncovering how such knowledge is claimed and deployed. In concluding, this chapter reflects on the feedback loop between the state of ‘perma-reform’ in English planning and the expansion of consultant inputs to the system, and considers what this relationship means for our understanding of planning expertise as a social construction and political tool in a co-produced system.

Despite intermittent recognition of the input of private planning consultants in the UK planning system, there remains a paucity of empirical studies into their roles and influence in contemporary practice. Drawing on interviews with both public and private planners in England, this paper explores the nature of the public-private entanglements that increasingly define local planning practice. These in-clude the heterogeneity of the consultant market, the rationales employed to justify consultant use, the nature of the expertise being deployed, and the asymmetrical nature of public/private relationships. The paper argues that the demands made on the public planning system and the planners that operate it are driving teleological explanations of the use of private expertise, displaying an ambivalence to the fact that Local Planning Authorities are in a position of critical dependency with private sector consultants. In concluding, it is argued that the knowledges that underpin planning practices are increasingly shaped by the market, with the potential to un-dermine planning’s public interest purpose.

Over the past 30 years, the English planning system has undergone a series of reforms designed to increase efficiency, promote growth and, since 2010, achieve cost savings under the auspices of austerity. These reforms can be understood as part of a broader reorganisation of public services and functions in many Western democracies which have seen private sector providers move in to service new markets and take on functions previously delivered by public servants. Drawing on findings from research with key actors from both public and private sectors, this paper argues that the English planning system is increasingly fragmented, and task-oriented, and requiring of knowledge and skills-sets which local planning authorities typically do not possess. A relational shift regarding the (in)capacity of public planners and private sector actors drawn from a range of\ud disciplinary backgrounds has occurred, with the latter now providing a wide range of inputs to the planning system, typically in the guise of consultants. While planning has long been an exercise in co-production, involving a number of different actors, there has been limited discussion of the role private sector actors play in servicing and reproducing the planning system. The paper therefore describes how ‘fragmentary planning’ has emerged in England, and reflects on the knowledges, skills and capacities the system now requires. In concluding, we outline the questions of governance that these dynamics raise, and suggest avenues of further research.

This book examines the challenges in delivering a participatory planning agenda in the face of an increasingly neoliberalised planning system and charts the experience of Planning Aid England. In an age of austerity, government spending cuts, privatisation and rising inequalities, the need to support and include the most vulnerable in society is more acute than ever. However, forms of Advocacy Planning, the progressive concept championed for this purpose since the 1960s, is under threat from neoliberalisation. Rather than abandoning advocacy, the book asserts that only through sustained critical engagement will issues of exclusion be positively tackled and addressed. The authors propose neo-advocacy planning as the critical lens through which to effect positive change. This, they argue, will need to draw on a co-production model maintained through a well-resourced special purpose organisation set up to mobilise and resource planning intermediaries whose role it is to activate, support and educate those without the resources to secure such advocacy themselves.

Planners in England routinely include shared ownership (SO) housing in the affordable housing element of new developments. Government policies in a number of European countries have also backed intermediate housing market mechanisms as a solution to housing affordability. The rhetoric of such mechanisms makes claims about its social progressiveness, its role in facilitating socio-economic mobility and helping people move from rented accommodation into full owner-occupation. SO schemes in England have been justified on the grounds of being transitional tenures and planners have accepted SO on this basis. However, given the paucity of rigorous empirical work, there is a concern that this is a policy based on assumption rather than evidence. This paper delineates existing knowledge, clarifies dimensions of the intermediate housing market and highlights underlying policy issues based on a large data-set of shared owners in England. Our analysis indicates that SO may not be appropriately classified as affordab...

This chapter discusses recent research that surveyed 120 groups involved at different stages of the neighbourhood planning process in England. Focusing on both the experiences of those involved in urban and rural areas, it provides a source from which to draw out some wider observations about the overall neighbourhood planning experience. In particular, the chapter gives insights into the evolution of neighbourhood planning groups in terms of their motivations and capacities to engage, their location and socioeconomic background, the issues that they are focusing on, and the barriers that they have been facing. In the light of debates on localism, it considers the extent to which neighbourhood planning is producing an uneven and unequal geography. The chapter also adds new dimensions to debates on capacity building and the over- and under-representation of certain interests in neighbourhood planning.

Neighbourhood planning (NP) as enabled by the 2011 Localism Act in England has precipitated a considerable literature discussing its potential, limitations and likely shortcomings referenced against government rhetoric and the reporting of initial experiences of the process. This paper provides an overview of the current literature on neighbourhood planning and sets out how it has been received and practised across England drawing on empirical evidence. The extent of take-up and the experience of those involved in the first five years of neighbourhood planning is used to consider how community-led planning may be designed and used following operational principles of inclusivity, capacity-building and adding value.

PurposeThis paper sets out to profile the activities and consumers of a unique and successful local food retail outlet in the UK that is based on weekly community markets.Design/methodology/approachThe seminal literature on local food in the UK is reviewed prior to providing a case study on a local food outlet, the True Food Co‐op. This is followed by the results from a detailed survey of its customers.FindingsThe increase in availability of and interest in local food over the last decade has been matched by new research findings. Although there is a consensus on the reasons why people buy local food, there are significant gaps in other areas of one's understanding, such as the lack of a clear definition of what local food is. This is frustrating further developments in the sector.Research limitations/implicationsBusiness development strategies that rely on niche markets, such as local food, in fast‐moving consumer goods categories are enjoying rapid growth. However, there are many difficulties with research in this area that emerge from the multitude of purchases made by numerous people, of various products, and in different places.Practical implicationsInnovative community‐based food retail outlets, such as the True Food Co‐op, provide an example of a business model that links consumers and producers in local food networks. As such they contribute to food security by filling a vital role in a diversified, resilient and environmentally friendly food system.Originality/valueThe paper publicises recent research findings in the local food sector that have practical implications for policy. In addition, these findings are important for individual businesses in the local food sector which are aiming to develop and secure their position in the marketplace.

Reflecting Planning Practice & Research's broad readership, we wanted this edition to consider participation issues as seen by practitioners. With this in mind we brought together a roundtable of p...

The concern to ensure public participation or community engagement within and in support of spatial planning has been an ongoing and widely aired topic since at least the 1960s. The basis and justi...

This paper demonstrates how a traditional land-based cluster provides significant economic and environmental benefits to a local economy and for a protected landscape. The focus is the group of businesses that have clustered around the North Wessex Downs (NWD) in Southern England and which are engaged in activities supporting the horseracing industry (HRI). A review of the literature on competitiveness and economic clusters is provided and indicates the need for more attention to be paid to the sustainability credentials of such industry clusters. This should form part of the wider discussion about economic development and agglomeration economies, as well as in developing so-called ‘underachieving’ clusters. The paper contends that there is a clear need to better understand traditional land-based clusters and an opportunity to maximise economic and other benefits.

Taking an historical view, the paper considers how Japan has struggled to regulate development and examines the impact of land reform in the immediate post-WWII era. This is seen as a key institutional change that precipitated numerous political and policy shifts in subsequent decades and acted as a critical factor in shaping Japanese land use. The focus of the paper demonstrates how the political and economic transformation of Japan just prior to and after land reform in 1946 led to a situation where successive governments have tried but ultimately failed to intervene successfully in the development process, contributing to unsustainable outcomes derived largely from a sustained period of growth and economic development. In our view, this was supported by the legal framework reinforced under the Allied Occupation (1945–1951), alongside the outcomes of the land reform process. This has also led to a remarkably consistent set of institutional conditions. In order to highlight the impact of land reform the ...

This paper provides a critical account of the process and design of parish plans (PPs), drawing on empirical evidence collected from parishes and other stakeholders in West Berkshire, England. PPs form part of a non-statutory process of community-led planning aimed at involving local communities in assessing their needs and preferences in a holistic and inclusive manner. The paper discusses the context in which PPs have evolved and critically assesses the process of assembling the plans examined. The findings have significant import for the future design and integration of PPs into wider local governance networks and in the light of new institutionalist models of planning. The paper concludes by highlighting the difficulties and potentials of such plans in an era of emerging spatial planning in England. Practical recommendations about method and structures to deliver more robust and reliable community-led planning in rural and urban areas are also made.

This paper extends the constraints of leisure literature by demonstrating how materials are circulated to regulate and constrain leisure behaviour in the countryside. It is argued that constraints in the form of moral regulation should be recognised as part of the constraints literature. The development of the Country Code in England 1 is regarded as part of a long‐term and ongoing effort to extend governance and control by means of informal and semi‐formal codes of conduct. Crucially, however, the Code has changed over time and may act as a means of placating different interests in the countryside as much as observably constraining them. The Code is seen as a constraint project mediated between groups and is found to be contested and reworked over time. Drawing on key concepts expounded in Bourdieu’s post‐structural social theory it is argued that actors occupy positions within social fields and draw on their own habitus, other dispositions of power and imaginations to co‐construct leisure regul...

Efforts to engage with communities in spatial planning have been criticised as being tokenistic, vehicles for co-option or designed to promote neo-liberal agendas. The introduction of neighbourhood planning (NP) in England under the Localism Act (2011) is claimed by proponents to be a step change in the way that local communities are involved in planning their own areas. However, little empirical evidence has yet emerged to substantiate such claims, or provide details about the practices and experiences of NP. The paper highlights that there are numerous parties involved in the co-production of Neighbourhood Development Plans and there are numerous instances where ideas, policies and priorities that emerge from within neighbourhoods are being ‘rescripted’ to ensure conformity to a bounded form of collaboration.

This paper builds upon literature examining the foreclosing of community interventions to show how a resident-led anti-road-noise campaign in South-Eastern England has been framed, managed and modulated by authorities. We situate the case within wider debates considering dialogical politics. For advocates, this offers the potential for empowerment through non-traditional forums (Beck, 1994; Giddens, 1994). Others view such trends, most recently expressed as part of the localism agenda, with suspicion (Haughton et al, 2013; Mouffe, 2005). The paper brings together these literatures to analyse the points at which modulation occurs in the community planning process. We describe the types of counter-tactics residents deployed to deflect the modulation of their demands, and the events that led to the outcome. We find that community planning offers a space - albeit one that is tightly circumscribed - within which (select) groups can effect change. The paper argues that the detail of neighbourhood-scale actions warrant further attention, especially as governmental enthusiasm for dialogical modes of politics shows no sign of abating.

The preparation of Community Strategies (CS) has been required of Local Strategic Partnerships and local authorities in England since the passing of the Local Government Act 2000. The authors examine the process and content of two CSs in southern England as part of an ongoing project to understand their impact and explore ways in which CSs may be prepared in a meaningful and effective manner. They critically evaluate a number of dimensions of CS formulation, including: the important role of local political and cultural context; the extent to which they reflect and reproduce a shift from representational to participatory forms of democracy; the impact of national policy agendas; the role of place identity; the relative influence of local government officers and members; and the dynamics and implications of particular forms of conflict mediation and consensus building. They conclude that the process of CS formation studied illustrates the tensions and opportunities contained within the Labour government's modernisation agenda. Governmentalities of active citizenship and participatory democracy mingle with more representational and managerial modes of local governance, creating hybrid structures, processes, and outcomes that shape the process of strategy formulation. All this is set within a context of a dynamic and variable set of place identities and pervasive resource (inter)dependencies which both close down and open up the range of issues and interests that are drawn into the process of CS formulation.

The paper reviews the assembly of the Country Code and its wider project circulated to reify a particular construction of countryside citizenship. The Code can be read as an attempt to pursue a particular moral project and an effort to influence behaviour through the design of a particular regime of conduct. Numerous alterations, most recently in 2004, have not fundamentally changed the aims of the Code as first introduced in 1951; as such the new Code marks not a withdrawal from the attempted imposition of a uniform countryside citizenship but rather an extension and refinement of this project and a continuing influence on the production and consumption of rural space. It is argued that the revisions and wider changes in associated materials and mediation of the Code are indicative of the way that countryside politics is changing to reflect both a post-productivist and post-feudal countryside: a shift that is being performed on the part of government through a more managerialist and interventionist style of governance.

The paper examines the transfer and operation of the UK Groundwork (GW) model in Japan and sets out the development of GW in the UK since the early 1980s. The study discusses two case study areas in Japan and explores the wider cultural and political issues that face the transfer of environmental action programmes. It was found that Japanese groups have been developing their own approaches using the Groundwork label, yet for GW ideas and practices to become understood and accepted in Japan, as has been the case in the UK, a longer timeframe and better support is needed. It is concluded that while there may be benefit in using the GW label there are also significant barriers to the successful adoption of Groundwork in Japan, including a different socio-political context for the spread of community-based schemes. There is also an opportunity, however, through GW and similar transformative planning efforts to help strengthen civil society and partnership working in Japan. While some of the difficult...