Rural Planning Policy and Governance

Rural planning policy across the UK and Ireland come from a common base in parallel to the emergence and institutionalisation of modern planning systems, with similar aims and planning tools. However, practice in the years since World War II has evolved very differently, for social, cultural and practical reasons. Through analysis against significant common topics including housing, placemaking and the environment, the chapter explores how the policy and governance systems are similar and different, and the implications of the extant policy landscapes for rural places and people. It concludes that those policy landscapes, and the governance architecture which underpins them, are grossly inadequate for addressing the contemporary challenges of the countryside – an inadequacy exacerbated by significant cuts to public spending over the last decade and more.