Is there a relationship between planning culture and the value of planning gain? Evidence from England

To what extent does the value of a development determine the value of planning gain? The correlation between the two is not as straightforward as one might expect. Variations in the behavioural and heuristic norms that define context-specific practices have refreshed long-standing interests in ‘planning cultures’. We explore the degree to which variations in planning culture might shed explanatory light on variations in local planning authorities’ capacity to exact developer contributions. Using a case study of English local planning authorities, we provide evidence of the limited explanatory power of traditional variables in explaining the value of developer contributions and present qualitative evidence of the effects of localplanning-authority culture and practices.