Market rules UK`s land use planning
An interim report on the uk's land-use planning was released on July 4, 2006, fuelling a debate on the possibility of relaxing regulations in the planning system to encourage rapid market growth.
Kate Barker, member of the monetary policy committee of the Bank of England and author of the 2004 review of housing supply, was commissioned to undertake it under the pre-budget report by Gordon Brown, the chancellor of the exchequer. The review was to consider how planning in the uk could better deliver sustainable economic development in a timely and transparent manner.
Environmental concerns The report was to analyse how planning could be conducted in the context of globalisation. The remit was to assess ways of improving the efficiency, flexibility, transparency and the predictability of the system and explore the relationship between planning and productivity.The report was to focus on understanding how the planning system impacts economic growth and employment, by analysing the direct and indirect impacts of policy and processes on the key drivers of productivity: enterprise, competition, innovation, investment and skills.
Barker's report has raised concerns among environmentalists and social rights groups. The report says the planning system needs to be made more responsive to economic fluctuations and the pressures of globalisation. This