Housing and planning policies

Bookwatch

338

to be. Its subtitle Creating

for

Developments

Housing and planning policies In conjunction with the Institute of Housing, the Longman Group publish a most useful Housing Practice Series. The volumes are aimed at students, particularly those working for one of the professional examinations in the field. They are, however, worthy of a wider audience since they present an interesting and easily readable account of the subject. This is especially so with Housing Finance by David Garnett, Barbara Reid, and Helen Riley (Longman, Harlow, 2 ed 1991, 197 pp, f13.95 paperback). The discussion covers all the major aspects of housing finance, including capital finance and owner-occupation, capital finance and the independent rented sector, local authority housing services, housing benefit, and the reform of housing finance. This is a complicated area, and the authors have succeeded in presenting the main issues clearly and concisely. Also in this series is Maintaining Home Ownership: The Agency Approach by Philip Leather and Sheila Mackintosh (Longman, Harlow, 1992, 249 pp). This deals with the recent policy development of home improvement services for elderly and low-income owner-occupiers. The evolution of different types of home improvement agency is traced in the context of changing policies for housing renewal and community care. The value of these agencies is critically examined and their contribution to community care evaluated. A further volume in the series, The Housing Authority as Enabler, has been announced for 1993. The Institute of Housing is also the publisher of three other guides through the housing and planning labyrinth. In Working Together in the 1990s (1991, 126 pp, &lo, paperback) Ross Fraser gives an easy to read guide to ways in which local authorities and housing associations can cooperate in the provision of housing. With the enormous policy changes

intended cept

that have taken place over the last decade, the relative position of these two housing agencies has been reversed. Whereas housing associations used to be the junior partner, they are now the lead agency in the provision of social housing. At the same time, the planning framework has changed a field which is described in more detail in Kathleen Dunmore’s Planning for Affordable Housing (Institute of Housing and the House Builders Federation, 1992, 104 pp, f10, paperback). This explains the changes brought about by the Planning and Compensation Act 1991, and the new policies in relation to ‘planning gain’. In particular, there are now explicit opportunities for the provision of affordable housing to be negotiated with developers as a condition of planning approval. Finally, in this list of recent Institute of Housing publications, is Madeline Drake’s Europe and 1992:

A Handbook

Authorities

for Local

Housing

(1992,

105 pp, f7.95, paperback). Anyone who thinks that membership of the EC has no implications for local housing authorities will be surprised by the information gathered in this booklet. Issues covered include rights of entry and residence, and EC funds for housing in connection with other programmes such as economic development, energy conservation and anti-poverty programmes. There are useful lists of relevant addresses and references. All three volumes are available from the Institute of Housing Publications, Octavia House, Westwood Business Park, Westwood Way, Coventry CV4 SJP. These books are invaluable introductions to a complex field.

Cities and land use planning Urban Villages (published by Urban Villages Group, 1992, 95 pp, plus ‘poster’, f22.45 hardback) is an attractive, well-produced and persuasive report - which is precisely what it is

is A Con-

Mixed-Use

Urban

on a Sustainable

Scale,

but it is much more than a concept: it is a campaign by a group of developers, builders, architects and planners, formed on the initiative of the Prince of Wales, to promote a new form of mixed use urban development. The concept is in line with the EC’s 1990 Green

Paper

on the Urban

Environ-

ment (obtainable

through HMSO) - so much so in fact that the EC was one of the report’s financial sponsors. The proposal envisages a development of some 40 ha, with ‘a combined resident and working population of perhaps 3 000 to 5 000’. It must be ‘small enough for any place to be in easy distance of any other; also small enough for people to know each other - by sight, by name, or by association _ and to have that working basis of common experience and common assumptions which gives strength to a community’. It must also be ‘large enough to support a wide range of activities and facilities, to attract firms and individuals who will give it life and prosperity’. It will foster ‘a real sense of belonging’, and provide a convenient, efficient and pleasing place in which to live. There is no set of prescriptions for an urban village. Each will have its own master plan and, to ensure that ‘the carefully balanced mixture of uses and tenure will not be upset by short-term opportunism’, each will be designated as a distinct land use category. Each will have an environmental action plan. Highly attractive illustrations are given of the ideas in practice. An enclosed ‘poster’ details an imaginary urban village. Though in the grand tradition of utopian town planning, the concept is espoused by practitioners (and International Business in Community), and seven developer members have formed a separate Urban Village Company whose shares are held by the companies with which they are associated. They are stated to be currently seeking suitable sites. Firms connected with the study group include Grand Metropolitan Estates, Barratt Developments, John Laing Holdings and Regalian Properties. Clearly this is no idealistic vision and

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November

1993

Bookwatch the promoters anticipate difficulties in its implementation. In his introduction, Prince Charles refers to ‘the complexity and stubborness’ of the issues underlying the modern urban design process. Hopefully, they make more rapid progress than did Ebenezer Howard. The report is available from Urban Villages Group, 5 Cleveland Place, London SWlY 6JJ. Milton Keynes used to be a village but is now, of course, the last of the English new towns. A celebratory history has been written by Terence Bendixson. who as a journalist covered the beginnings of the town in The Guardian, and John Platt, who was a senior official in the new town development corporation. Milton Keynes: Image and Reality (Granta Publications, 47 Norfolk Street, Cambridge CBl 2LE, 1992,301 pp, g14.95 hardback) looks and feels like a coffee table book, but it is much more. Though it sings loudly the praises of the new town, it also documents its history and development. Using confidential files and interviews with key participants, the fascinating story provides a better understanding of the processes of new town development than is usual in this type of commemorative volume. The illustrations are superb. Some technical aspects of planning have a major impact on cities. This is particularly the case with the Town and Country Planning ‘Orders’ which set out in detail what developments can be undertaken and what changes in the use of buildings can be made without planning permission. The Orders were modified by the Conservative Government as part of its policy of ‘lifting the burden’ on business. For example, it is now legal to change a public house to the much more profitable use as offices, and to change a restaurant to a fast food take-away. The impact of these changes on such matters as local amenity and traffic generation is detailed in Out of Order: The 1987 Use Classes Order: Problems and Proposals, by Sandra Bell (London Boroughs Association, College House, Great Peter Street, London SWlP 3LN, 1992, 56 pp, f12, paperback). The government response to the repre-

CITIES November 1993

sentations of local government are set out in the report: it is maintained that ‘the advantages of the present arrangements in terms of the certainty and flexibility they provide for the commercial sector, and the reduction in intervention and bureaucracy, far outweigh the disadvantages’. A clearer illustration of the political nature of planning would be difficult to find. The politically non-committed may be persuaded by the photographs in this report which eloquently depict the effects of ‘change of use’. With the abolition of the Metropolitan County Councils, the instrument for strategic planning in the English provincial conurbations was lost. The metropolitan districts are now ‘unitary authorities’ guided by ‘strategic advice’ issued by the Department of the Environment after consultation with them. There has been much argument on whether this system is adequate. The debate can now be informed by a study of the Greater Manchester conurbation: Metropolitan Planning in the 1990s: The Role of Unitary Development Plans by G. Williams, I. Strange, M. Bintley and R. Bristow (Department of Planning and Landscape, University of Manchester, Oxford Road, Manchester Ml3 9PL, 1992, 139 pp, f9, paperback). The detailed analysis shows how the ten individual districts have reacted to the new system. Overall it is clear that there is little approaching a plan for the conurbation as a whole. Instead there are, in the authors’ words ‘ten largely isolationist visions born out of separate processes of plan development’. When the political context becomes more favourable to the resumption of metropolitan planning, this study will provide useful indications of what is needed. The position in London is different from the provincial metropolitan areas since, although the Greater London Council has been abolished, there is an organization which is concerned with the area as a whole. This is the London Planning Advisory Committee, which is responsible for a flow of extremely useful publications relating to London. Some of these have been reviewed in earlier issues of Bookwatch. One of these reviews (in the

February 1992 issue, pp 77-78) was erroneously critical of the Stage II Report on the London World City Project. When this was received, it was incorrectly assumed to be the main publication on the project. In fact, a major report was published in the same year by HMSO, London: World City Moving into the 21st Century (HMSO, London, 1991, 239 pp, f24.95, hardback). This is a model of what a metropolitan planning study should be. It presents, in an interesting and attractive manner, the results of a wide-ranging research project commissioned from Coopers & Lybrand Deloitte. The report warrants a full review article but, for the present, it is possible here only to indicate its breadth and quality. The title is a meaningful one in that the study examines the place of London in the context of an increasingly interrelated web of cities which have worldwide functions. Three components are taken to be critical to the sustainability of such cities - their ability to create wealth, their capacity to generate jobs and income for the residents, and the provision of an environment which offers a high quality of life. London compares well with the similar world cities of Paris, New York and Tokyo. The nature of the comparison, the justification for the conclusions and proposals for strategic action are set out in the report. This is a planning study which will be of value both to students of cities and to the lay reader. British local government is to be ‘reformed’ yet again - though since that word is overused and has become virtually meaningless, the current term is ‘review’. Publications on this review are appearing at a fast rate. A most useful background volume is the Department of the Environment’s The Functions of Local Authorities in England (HMSO, 1992, 165 pp, fll, paperback). This lists and describes all the functions of English local authorities. Though prepared in connection with the local government review, it is of wider use as a reference book though as soon as the conclusions of the review are implemented it will need revising! Of a totally different character is a set of essays on the review itself. This

339

Bookwatch

is generally known as the Heseltine Review, since it is the Secretary of State for the Environment who is the driving force behind this further reorganization of local government. The title of the volume is appropriately The

Heseltine

ernment:

Review

A New Vision

of Local

Gov-

or Opportuni-

ties Missed?

by Steve Leach et al (Institute of Local Government Studies, University of Birmingham, Edgbaston, Birmingham B15 2TT, 1992, 96 pp, f12, paperback). The essays are highly critical of the review. Even if there was originally ‘a new vision’, this has disintegrated in the political storms which have since beset the Conservative government. Indeed, the questions arises as to why the review is continuing: to which the answer seems to lie with Michael Heseltine. This is a stimulating collection of essays though the reader will undoubtedly feel depressed about the ‘opportunities missed’. The Origins Use Planning

of the Singapore System

Land-

by Roger Bristow (Department of Planning and Landscape, University of Manchester, 1992, 34 pp, f3, paperback) is a brief account of the historical origins of a planning system which was influenced by German and American zoning and by UK discretionary development control. The latter predominated and, as in the UK, has stood the test of time. Hopefully, Roger Bristow will give us a fuller account of the operation of this system. Students of planning law will welcome a new edition of Planning Decisions Digest by Michael Purdue and Vincent Fraser (Sweet and Maxwell, London, 1992,415 pp, f65 hardback). This is a quick reference work for planning lawyers, surveyors and local government planning officials who need instant access to previous planning decisions. The volume is up-todate and includes the important legislation of 1990 and 1991. It is extremely well laid out, with material arranged under subject headings, following the structure of the relevant legislation. William Fulton’s Guide to California Planning (Solano Press, P.O. BOX 773, Point Arena, California 95468, 1991/1992, 298 pp) is proving popular;

it has been reprinted within a year of its initial issue. Its popularity is deserved beyond as well as within the State; there is much in California planning that is worth studying, even if its particular sociopolitical climate is unusual. Fulton lays out the planning laws and processes in detail and also describes how planning actually works in the State. It is written in an easy and interesting style, and can be highly recommended.

Land problems The Lost England

Land:

Land

Use Change

in

19451990

by Geoffrey Sinclair, was prepared for the Council for the Protection of Rural England (Warwick House, 25 Buckingham Palace Road, London SWlW OPP, 1992, 80 pp). It battles with the inadequate and conflicting statistics that are available on this subject. Most of the report is technical in nature, but the conclusions are striking: the official figures of the urbanization of rural land are significant underestimates. Current losses (at 11 000 ha a year) are more than double the rate (5 000 ha a year) which are officially reported. How useful is the concept of ‘the inner city’? Most urban problems of deprivation or poverty are located elsewhere; and most people who live in the inner city are not deprived or poor. Though the inner city contains disproportionate numbers of the deprived and the poor, a policy focus on these areas would clearly be inadequate. But are there problems which are both in the inner cities and of them? These are some of the questions which are addressed in Hollow Promises? Inner

City,

Rhetoric

and Reality

in the

edited by Michael Keith and Alisdair Rogers (Mansell, New York and London, 1991, 246 pp, US$70 hardback, US$30 paperback). The volume contains 10 papers, mainly on the UK, partly academic and partly polemical. The papers cover a wide range, including the London Docklands and Merseyside urban development corporations, gentrification, gender and the inner city, and ethnic enterprise. There is a lively introduction by the editors, and the

papers fare.

offer

varied

and

interesting

Transport policies Much interesting material on transportation is published by voluntary, professional and other interested organisations. An Illustrated Guide to Traffic Calming (Friends of the Earth, 26 Underwood Street, London Nl 7JQ, 1990, 20 pp, &4.50 paperback) provides a succinct illustrated introduction to ‘traffic calming’. This expressive term refers to measures to remove the dominance of motor traffic. It can be used in a limited sense to refer to speed reductions, parking restrictions, pedestrianization schemes and such like. In a wider sense it is synonymous with overall traffic policy, including car taxation and land use measures designed to reduce the need for car journeys. The report is full of telling illustrations and interesting points. For instance, a 50 kph speed limit (about 30 mph) in residential areas is ‘acknowledged in many European countries’ to be ‘far too high’; at speeds of 30 kph or below, additional road space is created since cars need less space; if traffic calming is restricted to a few streets its benefits are reduced, and traffic simply redistributes itself to neighbouring streets. The number of motor vehicles on the roads of the UK increased from 9.4 million in 1960 to 24.5 million in 1991. Of these, 19.7 million are private cars; these are forecast to increase to between 30 and 34 million by the year 2020. These and many more figures are collated each year in an easily accessible form by the British Road Federation. The latest issue is Basic Road Statistics 1992 (British Road Federation, Pillar House, 194202 Old Kent Road, London SE1 5TG, 1992. 41 pp, f22 paperback). The volume also shows that capital expenditure on roads is to increase from f897 million in 1988/89 to fl 877 million in 1992/93. The Council for the Protection of Rural England, with support from the Countryside Commission, commissioned Oxford Polytechnic ‘to examine the interface between planning and transport, and systematically to

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1993

Bookwatch

explore the case for better integration’. The result is Concrete and Tyres: The Development Effects of Major Roads - A Case Study of the M40 (CPRE, 25 Buckingham Palace Road, London SWlW OPP, 1992, 78 pp, f9 paperback). This is a meaty report which documents the impact which the M40 has had. Much development has taken place which is not in accordance with the provisions of the development plan. It is, moreover, development of a nature and intensity which is radically different from previous development in the area. Another major result of the motorway has been the generation of much new traffic. The report demonstrates the inadequacy of road planning and its divorce from town and country planning. Planning which incorporates road and other transport modes can produce a more satisfactory urban environment at lower cost than roaddominated plans. A persuasive report by TEST (Transport and Environment Studies) shows the required approach as applied to Cardiff: An Environmental Approach to Transport and Planning in Cardiff (TEST, 177 Arlington Road, London NW1 7EY, 1992, 50 pp, f9, paperback). The basic idea is remarkably simple: development should be planned in conjunction with transport. Particularly critical, of course, is the journey to work which is the major source of traffic congestion. The TEST approach combines a number of policies to deal with this, including parking controls, the provision of park and ride facilities, measures for bus priority, traffic calming, traffic management, pedestrianization, cycle routes. infrastructure imnrovements and so forth. This report is rich in ideas, and shows how various techniques can be coordinated to ‘progressively develop a more sustainable and environmentally sympathetic land use-transport structure for the city’. Towards Sustainable Transport Policy forms an element of the TEST report and is also the title of a report by the Association of County Councils (CCA, 66a Eaton Square, London SWlW 9BH, 1991, 59 pp, f10, paperback). This starts from the now accepted proposition that there is no possibility of increasing road supply to 1

CITIES November

1993

a level which would match the potential growth in demand. Some transfer from private car use to public transport is therefore necessary. This will happen only if three critical factors are successfully dealt with: ‘comfort, cost and convenience’. This requires changes in transport finance, traffic management, public transportation, planning policies, and a means of coordinating these and other policies. It also means that urban ‘initiatives’ are conceived and implemented in a proper planning framework. Some of these initiatives, being exempt from certain aspects of planning control, have resulted in excessive congestion in and around inner city zones. Notable examples can be seen with the Dudley enterprise zone and the Merry Hill shopping centre which show ‘the dangers of such emergency policies outside the statutory framework and without inter-regional consultation’. While these reports are all partial in the sense that they represent a particular constituency - the uncommitted reader (if such a one exists) might welcome a more disinterested approach. The need is well met by Paul Truelove’s Decision Making in Transport Planning (Longman, Harlow, 1992, 184 pp). This provides an informative and nicely balanced account of current transport issues in Britain. Ready solutions are examined and generally found to be more problematic than their protagonists envisage, even before politics enter into the debate. This is a highly readable, cornprehensive account which deserves a wide audience. From the other side of the Atlantic comes a new edition of Mark H. Rose’s Interstate: Express Highway Politics 1939-1989 (University of Tennessee Press, Knoxville, 1990, 192 pp, US$17.95, paperback). This is an update of the 1979 edition, which extends the story up to the end of the 1980s. The revisions improve on the best-researched and most illuminating account of the incredible US interstate highway system.

Environmental

problems

A Friends of the Earth survey reveals that some of the most valuable coun-

tryside in England and Wales is suffering damage from waste disposal on land, and that additional damage is threatened by current proposals for further tipping (Dumping on our Countryside: A Survey of Damage to Key Designated Areas by Waste Disposal, Friends of the Earth, 26 Underwood Street, London Nl 7JQ, 1992, 31 pp, f7, paperback). The survey highlights the inadequacy of existing controls to safeguard areas of landscape and nature conservation importante. From the same organization comes ‘an illustrated guide to traffic reduction’. This is a well illustrated, eloquent document whose message is encapsulated in its title (Less Traffic, Better Towns, Friends of the Earth, London, 1992, 75 pp, f10.95, paperback). The Green Light: A Guide to Sustainable Tourism is published by the English Tourist Board in conjunction with the Rural Development Commission and the Countryside Commission (English Tourist Board, Thames Tower, Black’s Road, London W6 9EL, 1992, 48 pp, f10, paperback). It aims ‘to enable all those involved in running tourism businesses to forge a new way forward that combines economic prosperity with sound environmental stewardship’. Its economic importance is enormous and is growing rapidly. The Guide points out that by the end of the century tourism will be the world’s largest single industry. Contern for the environment is enlightened self-interest: It pays to go green because: you will be harmonising your own activities with what is best for the environment while at the same time building a solid basis for long term growth; you will be offering your visitors a better product and projecting a responsible and credible image; you could also be saving money and attracting new visitors, guests, passengers, or customers. The booklet (which is very well produced and profusely illstrated) is a striking testimony to the awakened concern for the environment. European environmental policies are now of great significance throughout Europe, yet few know much of the nature of these policies and how they operate. Partly, this is because there is a shortage of digestible literature. Ludwig Kramer helps to fill the gap

Bookwatch with his Focus on European Environmental Law (Sweet and Maxwell, London, 1992, 321 pp, 245, hardback). The book explains how European law operates; how it is enforced; who pays for environmental pollution; and who can complain about suspected breaches of policy. The exposition is thorough and well referenced, though readers will undoubtedly have difficulty in tracing many of the references. (When will the EC do something to make their publications easily available?) Written by the ‘Head of Legal Matters and Application of Community Law’ in one of the EC Directorates, and published by a wellknown legal publisher, this book is essentially for lawyers. The general reader, however, will find it useful (and up-to-date) as a reference guide. The Environmental Law Institute (ELI) of Washington, DC has a series of Deskbooks which are large compendia of detailed legal provisions. These reference books cover a range of topics. The latest is European Community Deskbook (Environmental Law Institute, 1616 P Street, NW, Washington, DC 20036, 1992, 714 pp, US$85 within the USA; US$lOO elsewhere, paperback). This contains a useful overview of ‘The European Community Environmental Legal System’, but the main body of the volume reproduces the full texts of EC Resolutions, Directives, and other instruments relating to (1) general environmental, institutional, and impact assessment matters (including the Fourth Environmental Action Programme); (2) air pollution; (3) water pollution; (4) waste management; (5) dangerous substances and biotechnology; and (6) proposed legislation. Given the general difficulty in obtaining EC documents, this is a useful collection indeed, but, of course, it will rapidly need supplementing. I hope that ELI will issue regular supplements. Two other volumes received for review deal with US environmental issues: Environmental Law Deskbook and Community Rightto-Know Deskbook. The latter will be of interest outside the USA because of the increasing concern for public participation in environmental regulation

342

Their coverage, cost and availability are the same as the European volume. The UK government is now issuing an annual guide to environmental policy progress and initiatives, following up on the landmark This Common Inheritance: Britain’s Environmental Strategy (HMSO, 1990). The latest is This Common Inheritance: The Second Year Report (HMSO, 1992, 192 pp, f21, paperback). This is packed with information on the current state of the UK environment and the measures being taken to deal with the incredible range of problems. This is an annual publication which all concerned with the environment will want to study.

Shorter notices Mike Robinson’s The Greening of British Party Politics is the latest in the series Issues in Environmental Politics, published by Manchester University Press (Manchester, 1992, 246 pp, f10.95, paperback). It documents the emergence of environmental concerns, and the relationships between the environmental movement and the political parties. Original essays on the growth of New York are edited by David Ward and Oliver Zunz in The Landscape of Modernity: Essays on New York City 1900-I 940 (Russell Sage Foundation, 112 East 64th Street, New York, NY 10021, 1992, 370 pp, US$39.95, hardback). This is a fascinating, strikingly illustrated book. The Municipal Year Book 1992 contains the usual tables of statistics on US municipal government, together with lists of relevant organizations and surveys of municipal management issues and trends. It is published by the International City/County Management Association, 777 North Capitol Street, NE, Suite 500, Washington, DC 20002. A deservedly popular text book on Urban Politics: Power in Metropolitan America is by Bernard H. Ross. Myron A. Levine and Murray S. Stedman. A fourth edition has now been published by Peacock Publishers, Itasca, IL (1991,471 pp). A most interesting book on Know-

ledge, Power and the Congress (by Congressional Quarterly, 1414 22nd Street, NW, Washington, DC 20037, 1992, 255 pp, US$30.95, hardback, US$19.95 paperback) presents a collection of essays presented at the Library of Congress on the occasion of the bicentennial of the US Congress. The focus is on the role of knowledge in the establishment of public policy and the problems of the current ‘information overload’. Past Meets Future: Saving America’s Historic Environments is a collection of essays on preserving the architectural and cultural heritage of the USA. The essays are short, but very much to the point, and well illustrated. The volume is published by the National Trust for Historic Preservation (Preservation Press, 1785 Massachusetts Avenue, NW, Washington, DC 20036, 1992, 288 pp, US$25.95, hardback). Law and Institutions of the European Communities by D. Lasok and J.W. Bridge (Butterworths, London, 1991, 591 pp), is now in its fifth edition. It has deservedly become a standard reference on the EC. This is a complex, nascent area of law and Lasok and Bridge explore it deftly. Though written as an undergraduate text, Meryl Thomas’s Casebook on Land Law (Blackstone Press, London, 1992, 494 pp) will be of wider interest. It provides a comprehensive survey of English case law. The most relevant cases are extracted and linked by text and notes. A fifth edition of John J. Harrigan’s Political Change in the Metropolis is now available in paperback (Harper Collins, New York, 1993, 475 pp). It maintains its usual high standard as an excellent text on urban political science. The new edition has been completely updated to reflect recent developments and new theories of urban politics. This is the last Bookwatch to be written in the USA. I have now returned to the UK, and can be contacted through the address below. J. Barry Cullingworth c/o 85 Mandeville Road Hertford SG13 WJ

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1993