Strategic-Local Tensions Under the English Planning System: Reconsidering the Role of Values in Spatial Planning

Abstract

This paper analyses conflicts between central government’s strategic objectives and local community aspirations under the English planning system. Focusing on the Cambridge sub-region, it shows how housing growth was delivered with relatively limited tensions due to shared value commitments, particularly around social equity at the sub-regional scale. The study highlights how these choices were shaped by central government’s meta-governance framework and local political priorities, demonstrating the importance of context-specific values in spatial planning and underlining the need for situated planning theory.