Ineffectiveness of Planning Control and Its Implication to Housing Oversupply

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Journal of Civil Engineering and Architecture 2011, David Publishing Company, USA

Ineffectiveness of Planning Control and Its Implication to Housing Oversupply: A Case Study of Johor Bahru, Malaysia Alias Rameli1 and Ratnawati Aman2 1

Federal Department of Town and Country Planning, Ministry of Housing and Local Government, Malaysia. (aliasrameli@yahoo.com) 2

RA Planning and Management Services Consultant, Johor Bahru, Malaysia (ratna.aman@gmail.com) ABSTRACT

The role of land use planning system in housing development is not limited to the meeting of housing needs but also encourages and ensures the efficiency of the housing market system. Even in the failure of the housing market, planning system is seen able to rectify the failure by properly governing the activities of housing approval. The effectiveness of planning system in Malaysia however, is questionable due to the existence of housing oversupply and property overhang. The shortcomings in the approach and practice of planning control have arguably contribute to the problem. The veracity of the argument is proven by the empirical research conducted in the Johor Bahru Conurbation area. In the research, the effectiveness of the planning control process is measured by examining the outcomes of housing approval. The method of content analysis has been applied to analyse selected housing application files. The research shows that there are shortcomings in controlling and approving new housing applications. The non-compliance to the proposed land use zoning, lack of consideration to the aspects of housing demand and failure to impose the exact planning conditions are among the causes of the ineffectiveness of the planning control process which eventually contribute to the existence of housing oversupply. Keywords: Land use planning, housing development, housing planning, planning control

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INTRODUCTION

The land use planning system plays a pivotal role in achieving sustainability, efficiency and effectiveness in the development of the housing sector. In Malaysia, the current planning mechanisms, particularly the structure plan (SP), local plan (LP) and planning control are recognized as tools to plan and control the development and the supply of housing (Alias, 2007). Through the preparation of the SP, housing policies are formulated to achieve housing planning and development objectives. Subsequently, housing land area, housing quantity and suitable locations for future housing development will be determined and allocated in the preparation of LP. The housing planning activity is completed at the stage of planning control,

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