Planned Out: The Discriminatory Effects of Planning’s Regulation of Small Houses in Multiple Occupation in England

Abstract

Some claim that planning has a “dark” side which is expressed in policies and practices that disadvantage minorities and less powerful groups. This article examines how revisions to English planning legislation and the adoption of restrictive local planning policies regulating small houses in multiple occupation may disproportionately affect the housing choices of young, lower-income adults. Drawing on documentary research, secondary data analysis and Yiftachel’s conceptual framework of planning as social control, the paper explores the territorial, procedural, socio-economic and cultural effects of these regulatory measures and reflects on their implications for planning theory and practice.