DPU Working Paper - No. 36

Author: Leonard Dissanayake

Publication Date: 1989

Development control forms an integral part of the planning practice. It is the basic means by which the state intervenes to regulate the use and development of land in order to implement local and national planning policies. Most significantly it is the part of the planning process in which
members of the public come into contact with local planning authorities.

Today, development control comes under considerable criticism about the nature of decisions taken, and the ways in which they are taken. One hears complaints that sluggishness discourages development; that its complexity is excessively costly; and that its nature stifles initiative. (Amos, 1980). Development control is not appreciated by the general public mainly because of the restrictions it imposes on the aims and aspiration of the developers. To gain a clear understanding of its role in planning practice it will be useful to analyse the development control system in relation to a particular country and city; Colombo in Sri Lanka.

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