This thesis explores the extent to which the arrangements of the English land use planning system have influenced attempts to incorporate the concerns of sustainable development. This is achieved through an examination of both the procedural and communicative aspects of development plan preparation. The research inquiry is defined by an assumption that the existing statutory requirements and institutional form of development planning may both constrain and facilitate the requisite incorporation. Sustainable development is a very broad notion with both consensual and conflictual aspects, characteristics which render an examination of its assimilation into any sector of governance problematic. The tendency within the planning literature has been to concentrate upon specific criteria relating to sustainable resource management or implementational capacity. This thesis argues that such an approach is inappropriate at this early stage in the notion's assimilation. The essential issue in terms of management and implementation is the extent to which environmental resources are re-evaluated under the auspices of sustainable development - without such a foundational underpinning research in the field is open to become an arbitrary activity. With a line of inquiry founded upon `sustainable re-evaluation' the research reveals, through survey and case study work, that present arrangements within formal development planning are predominantly constrictive. The planning system has undoubtedly come to include reference to sustainable development within its decision making but in a detached, partial and criteria driven manner. The thesis concludes that the crucial need to sustainably re-evaluate our environment, as the integral root of policy and proposal formulation, is being deflected or partitioned off from playing a foundational mediatory role. More tellingly, communicative and procedural activity is smothering the motivation of actors and stakeholders to take on the necessary re-evaluation. In theory opportunities do exist but current practices, agendas and vested interests deny them their potential.

The thesis presents an analysis of strategic plan-making in the metropolitan county councils during the 1970s, principally through a case study of local authority activity in South Yorkshire between 1973 and 1978. In addition to the detailed case study some original empirical material and secondary analysis was undertaken in the other metropolitan county councils (apart from London) in order to draw comparisons between planning processes and public participation. The research employed a variety of methods/ techniques including non-participant observation of many formal and informal meetings within local government, secondary analysis of published and internal documentation from local authorities in South Yorkshire and the other metropolitan areas, interviews with samples of members and officers in the five South Yorkshire local authorities and with selected planning officers in the other five metropolitan county councils. A small survey of local groups and voluntary organisations in South Yorkshire was undertaken towards the end of the time period under study. In addition, the close involvement of the researcher with the planning process gave many opportunities for informal discussion with key personnel. Towards the end of the planning period the examination in public was covered in full by attendance and recording of all sessions, together with secondary analysis of all submitted documentation and the DOE day summaries. A context is provided in the early sections, not only to the strategic planning process and planning participation but to the democratic roots of participation in politics. The empirical material is present in three sections, namely, the strategic planning process and public participation, relationships between local authorities in the two-tier system of local government in the metropolitan areas, and central-local relations. The main findings under these three heads show, respectively, that; a) professional planning staff and local councillors held distinctively different views on the nature of the planning process, on the role and nature of public participation in planning, and ultimately, on what was felt to be a justifiable and acceptable set of strategic planning policies for the county; b) the split in town planning responsibilities and functions between the two tiers of local government in the metropolitan areas led to tension and confrontation at both the technical and political level. This tension was exacerbated by the rationalistic and comprehensive approach to plan making favoured by the professional officers in the country; c) the role of central government in moulding the structure plan towards an outcome favoured by the centre (ministers and civil servants) overrode the distributional and interventionist strategy favoured by the county council leaving a trend-following, market oriented framework in place as the approved plan. A number of broader observations based on the findings conclude the study.

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When pedestrianisation was introduced in Plymouth, in February 1987, there were two important physical changes to the city centre; environment changes and accessibility changes. Environmentally, the city centre was improved aesthetically and also in terms of safety for pedestrians, less congestion, and ease of movement within the traffic free zone. The process of pedestrianisation initially reduced the accessibility of the city centre, particularly for car users, because the scheme removed nearly all the on-street parking meters together with two small short stay car parks. This caused a temporary reduction in car parking facilities, and the replacement facilities, completed in late 1988, were located at longer walking distances from the shops. Car users' access to the car parks and from the car parks to the shops was therefore changed. Previous experience in other cities has shown that accessibility to newly pedestrianised areas is of paramount importance and in Plymouth this was particularly evident when car users' accessibility problem became the most controversial aspect of the scheme. Conventional methods of appraising the success or otherwise of pedestrianisation schemes have tended to concentrate on commercial indicators such as trade turnover or on the acceptance of the scheme measured by studying peoples' attitudes and opinions. This research develops a conceptual and operational model that looks predominantly at the behaviour of the city centre users and which focuses on the particular problem experienced in the city, namely the changes in accessibility for the car user. The methodology examines the car users' travel, parking and shopping behaviour at three stages of the city centre's development; before pedestrianisation was introduced, during it s construction and after it s completion. The research was therefore able to discover how people adapted their behaviour in response to the changes in the city. The research found that many car users adopted a more leisurely approach to visiting the city centre, reflecting it s new image of a recreational as well as a retail shopping centre. Attitudes towards pedestrianisation also changed significantly during the survey period, and were found to be strongly related to respondents' experiences and perceptions of the parking facilities.

This thesis examines two separate, but interrelated, issues, namely rail privatisation and rural dependency on the availability of rail transport. The thesis was based on the proposition that rural accessibility permits the development and sustainability of the social and economic lives of a community and that this interrelationship is currently threatened by rail privatisation and the associated risks of line closures or service cutbacks. To test this proposition a thorough investigation into the theory and practice of privatisation was completed, together with a comprehensive survey of the travel arrangements of people living in rural communities served by branch line railways. A variety of research methods were employed, including desk-top studies involving literature searches, qualitative investigations to assist questionnaire design and the use of self-administered questionnaires by sample populations. The empirical results are presented and discussed against the background of introductory chapters which review the policy of privatisation, the evolution of rail privatisation and the role of the rural branch line. The concluding chapters present three different scenarios for the future of rural branch lines, ranging from closure to revitalisation, and outline areas where future research may be carried out. The main findings were that a substantial number of people depend on the branch lines to enable them to carry out a wide variety of journeys and it was concluded that branch line railways do indeed play a vital role in the development and sustainability of the rural community. Furthermore, it was concluded that rail privatisation may indeed pose a threat to the future provision of branch line services and as such could have far-reaching impacts on the future well-being of the rural community.

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The management framework for coastal zone management developed in this thesis was based on two fundamental principles concerned with a proper understanding of the coastal zone and a structurally representative management process. The rigorous application of these two principles within the Moray Firth resulted in the development of a four stage management framework with the potential to overcome the inadequacies of the existing planning and management regime operating within the coastal zone. The effectiveness of this framework to deal with coastal issues of concern was assessed in an investigation of conflict management and resolution through the development of a zoning scheme. The framework proved capable of answering five questions identified as having to be answered if zoning is to be used to achieve stakeholder consensus and agreement concerning conflicts of use. The management framework thus has much to recommend it as an essential requirement for the successful implementation of coastal zone management within the other twenty coastal regions identified in the UK. As opposed to earlier recommendations made concerning coastal zone management in the UK, the framework developed provides a more effective means of: (a) generating and disseminating information, (b) increasing public participation from a consultation to partnership level, (c) increasing communication between and awareness of stakeholders, (d) reaching management decisions regarding coastal issues of concern, and (e) implementing and enforcing management decisions. These products of the management framework result in the co-ordinated management of the coastal zone.

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