Principle based planning as a means of facilitating development: The provisions of the Development Facilitation Act and the proposals of the Green Paper on Development and Planning

Abstract

This article is an attempt to place a perspective on the new system of planning proposed by the Green Paper on Development and Planning issued by the Department of Land Affairs in May 1999. It is to some extent based on comments made to the Department by the author on behalf of the Association of Consulting Town and Regional Planners (North Region), South Africa Planning Institution (Gauteng, Mpumalanga, Northern and North West Provinces) and the Association of Chartered Town Planners in South Africa. The kernel of the article arose from a debate regard­ing the desirability of having a statutory significance attached to policy documents. It will become evident that answering this point, which may, at first glance be a misleadingly simple one, has resulted in an examination of the new system of princi­ple based planning in the perspective of existing circumstances in planning and on the basis of the experiences of others in dealing with development. The debate regarding statutory significance is related to: the number of statutes affecting planning; the content and effect of land development objectives/integrated development plans and the effect on capacity in the profession. The system requires a significant adjustment to the way in which planning is approached. It is based on the interpretation of princi­ples and not a reliance on prescriptive mechanisms such as town-planning schemes. In the context of the new system and its manner of operation, there are contradictions in what is proposed by the new system. There are two main conclusions: that the content of Integrated Development Plans and the method of their formulation are critical in allowing principle-based planning to succeed; and that the legal requirement imposed on local authorities to plan has a significant effect on capacity and that present staffing policies actively work against the system being successful.