‘Incentivisation’ through buying and selling planning permissions can easily lead us to an ugly place in which corruption infects public discourse over the use of land, says David Lock
We should resist the temptation to attach a strategic planning role to any passing straw in the present maelstrom, and be ready to help in post-election reconstruction, says David Lock
The Government’s plans to shut down the regional planning machinery has handed over not only the freedom to plan locally, but also the responsibility, and councillors will soon find they have been slipped from the frying pan into the fire, says David Lock
We are becoming obsessed with processes rather than outcomes, and could do with a period of reflection about just what we expect our planning activities to do for us, says David Lock
The regional planning vision has been systematically eroded, and is now so degraded that it is time to admit that the system is broken and needs fixing, says David Lock
The design review service offered by CABE all too often fails to offer constructive criticism and wise counsel – and urgently needs some basic rules of engagement, says David Lock
Neither recession nor wishful thinking will see the need for new homes disappear, and so two clear, recent Government restatements of intent should be applauded, says David Lock
Speed and certainty should be the benefit of eco-town status, in return for investment in a much higher standard of design implementation and long-term management, says David Lock
The development planning industry and the planning profession are failing to leave a record of published material for future generations, says David Lock
Conservative thinking on regional planning in the run-up to the election still raises unanswered questions – but is either fabulously brilliant or quite wrong-headed, says David Lock
If the opportunties offered by the eco-town programme are not to be wasted, DCLG processes should engage with how design work and funding is proceeding in real life, says David Lock
Attractive though places such as Stockholm’s Hammarby are,the UK eco-towns are having to be conceived in an entirely different social, political and economic culture, says David Lock
