Control of office development in central Edinburgh, 1959-1978

Abstract

This thesis examines the attempts of the local planning authority in Edinburgh to control and guide the development of offices in the city centre over a period of twenty years, 1959 to 1978. The pressures brought to bear on the planning authority from both nationally operative property developers seeking to develop offices in the city, and local amenity and residents' groups aiming to halt such development, have been examined. The effects of these very different interest groups on the formulation and implementation of land use planning policy for the city centre have been assessed. Such an analysis explores the political aspects of the land development process and thereby makes a contribution towards a fuller understanding of how a society reorganises itself in space. It is felt that this extra dimension improves on the more economically deterministic models which have dominated geographic thought on the subject to date.

The results from this detailed examination of land use planning-inaction have been used to critically reassess the existing theories concerning patterns in the nature of the distribution of benefits accruing from local government action. It concludes that none of the contemporary theories can adequately explain the occurrences observed in central Edinburgh. A list is given of the basic phenomena which any theory on "who benefits" from local government action would have to be capable of explaining, in an internally logical and coherent manner, in order to be adequate. These include the automatic safeguarding of general business interests, the ability to respond quickly to amenity group interests and the ability of business and amenity groups to act together in a mutually supportive way. Finally, the thesis argues that the concept of "interests", as presently used by theorists, requires careful re-examination in the light of its findings.