After lengthy debate about the need for change, the 2004 Planning and Compulsory Purchase Act introduced substantial reforms to system of town and country planning in England. 1 The changes have most impact on the status and form of regional and local planning policy instruments but reform is also seeking a deeper ‘culture change’in planning.(See the article by Shaw and Lord in this issue.) A central theme is the promotion of ‘the spatial planning approach’. This is set out in the government’s policy guidance for the preparation of local development frameworks (ODPM, 2004a) but was first explained in guidance for the preparation of regional spatial strategies in 2004.

The new system of regional spatial strategies and local development documents should take a spatial planning approach. Spatial planning goes beyond traditional land use planning to bring together and integrate policies for the development and use of land with other policies and programmes which influence the nature of places and how they can function. That will include policies which can impact on land use, for example by influencing the demands on or needs for development, but which are not capable of being delivered solely or mainly through the granting or