In article ,
Greg Hennessy wrote:

Planning + protection is a local issue.

Localities had that abrogated by Whitehall in 1947.

You've said that several times but it isn't true. The Town and
Country Planning Act 1947 created the first system of nationwide
planning control by giving all local authorities the responsibility
of preparing a development plan. It did not tell them what to put
into that plan.

Before the Act only certain areas could have their local authorities
set up local development plans and decide development issues (London
was the most important - the LCC was the lead authority). There was
no responsibility to prepare a plan - it was voluntary. Other
local authorities could restrict development but only if they paid
compensation to the landowner.

Of course you could go back to this system. It delivered the
appalling Queen Anne's Mansions, on the site where the Basil Spence
brutalist Home Office is now being demolished. Queen Anne's
Mansions rose to 14 storeys over St James's Park, because its
height was unrestricted, and led Queen Victoria (who could see it
from Buckingham Palace) to demand action to restrain building
heights.

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