Problems of loopholes in planning law

The Use Classes Order and the General Development Order were revised in 1987 and 1988 respectively. The main aim was to reduce the intervention of the planning system in the use of land and buildings by commercial activity, inorder to foster enterprise whilst continuing to protect the environment and amenity. The result has been a major shift away from the planning system based on the execution of coherent locally determined policies and towards freer determination of the use of land and buildings by the market. This has meant reduced powers for the local planning authorities in protecting the local environment, its residents and workers. This thesis is primarily concerned with the experience of London local planning authorities (with particular emphasis on the London Borough of Hackney) with the operation of the revised Orders, particularly as they relate to the shopping area uses, other business and industrial uses and the residential uses. The effects of the new regulations on the environment, on the quality of life (in terms of amenity, diversity of uses, highway and traffic implications) and on the employment implications for the local residents and users of land are examined. The other areas of interest are the impact of the changes on the local planning authority's ability to carry out one of its main statutory duties of controlling, managing, and regulating landuse development in the interests of the public and whether the aims behind the revised Orders are being achieved in practice. This enables identification of the positive and the negative consequences of the new Orders and of the means by which the negative consequences could be curtailed