Urban Policy and Transport

Abstract

This chapter completes the overview of the institutions and instruments of the planning system by considering urban policy and, briefly, transport planning. Urban policy and regional policy too has traditionally been conceived in terms of public investment and subsidy. The period of Thatcher government in the 1980s confirmed a shift towards a more market oriented approach which persists today. The key concepts are leveraging in private finance and transferring land to the private sector, which are covered in the first two sections. In the final section it is shown that transport planning too has been based on these concepts in preference to a public sector directed programme of investment. However, considerable amounts of public money continue to underpin the operation of these policies, as Chapter 16 will show.