The adaptation of UK planning and pollution control policy

This paper reviews policies relating to planning and pollution control - their drivers, their implementation and the challenges they face. Throughout the 30 years since the Royal Commission on Environmental Pollution reported on the use of planning controls over air pollution, the UK government's position has been characterised by ambivalence: urging the use of planning powers to control pollution while warning them to avoid encroaching on the remit of other regulatory agencies. While the language of planning controls over pollution and the pollutants of most concern have changed over the years, the role of planning in mitigating pollution must now be understood within the context of adaptation to European environmental policy, to recurrent demands for deregulation and, above all, to the pursuit of sustainable development. The paper argues that inadequate weight is given to pollution prevention in determining planning applications because of central government's reluctance to allow local planning authorities to jeopardise economic development. It suggests that public and political endorsement of clarified environmental objectives, together with improved procedures, are essential if planning is to continue to adapt to play its full part in combating the effects of climate change.