Planning inevitably involves the activity of making and using plans. Planning is nevertheless often criticised in this core function of making plans and using them to guide action and decision-making. Criticisms include making plans that are overly complex or incapable of implementation. Additional criticisms include the challenge of preparing plans within appropriate timescales and keeping them relevant and up-to-date. These and other criticisms call for a contemporary exploration of the continuing role of plans in planning systems.

This paper provides a conceptual and practical exploration of the contemporary role, relevance and nature of plans using the British planning systems as context. The conceptual dimension examines critical questions around the purpose, type and currency of plans in a contemporary planning context – are plans still relevant and, if so, what type of plans? What do plans ‘do’ in the contemporary era? What might be practical alternatives to the traditional types of plans that planners produce? The practical exploration is grounded in the British planning systems that are characterised by significant decision-maker discretion yet are defined as ‘plan-led’. Changing legal and policy presumptions have impacted on the practical status of plans – and continuing challenges in keeping plans up-to-date alongside national policy imperatives have arguably diminished the role of plans in decision-making. The paper concludes with a critical review of whether the ‘plan-led’ system is increasingly a ‘plan-less’ one.