Railways, Urban Development and Town Planning in Britain: 1948-2008

The British railway system was nationalised in 1948, the same year that the modern planning system came into operation. In theory, this should have encouraged the development of an integrated approach between planning policy and railway management. In practice, the two sectors operated largely in isolation from each other, but with periods of a more consciously integrated approach between 1968-76 and 1988-94. 1994 also marked the onset of the railway privatisation process which has had further negative impacts on integration with planning. This book provides a critical overview of the relationships between planning and railway management and development during the key period in the 20th Century when the railway was in public ownership: 1948-94. It argues that, overall, the relationships were never very strong and examines why this was the case. It does so by defining three sets of parameters by which the interface between them can be defined and evaluated, firstly looking at the institutional arrangements of each sector and the degree to which they enabled a positive relationship. Secondly, it analyses policy for each sector and the extent to which this sought to promote the relationship between land use and railways, and finally, it reviews what actually happened on the ground as a result of the interplay between institutional structures and policy. The book concludes by showing how these findings reflect on the interplay between planning and railway since privatisation and points to best practice for the future in institutional structures and policy development to secure improved outcomes.