@conference { , title = {Credibility in the absence of legitimacy}, abstract = {This presentation considers the motivations for those who chose to live beyond ‘the system’; outside of mainstream regulated society and, particularly, formal town and country planning frameworks. The paper presents research which compares the motivations of those involved in the early unregulated and unauthorised development of Plotlands with individuals who have embraced contemporary ‘off-grid’, low impact forms of development which are often not within mainstreamed planning provisions. Plotland settlements in England primarily emerged between 1918 and 1940. These were predominantly communities of unregulated and unauthorised self-built properties, developed speculatively. Many of these developments were removed or legitimised following the 1947 planning legislation which introduced universal planning controls in the UK. Today, speculative ‘off grid’ development continues to occur. This is on a much smaller scale, typically individual properties, but is nevertheless notable for being outside of the formal development industry and processes. This paper will provide a greater understanding of the motivations of those who live or have lived beyond the system and consider this in the context of the concept of legitimacy as derived from the creation and acceptance of regulatory constructs, specifically planning legislations. This work will consider ideas of credibility being associated with these development that could still be considered illegitimate due to their unauthorised nature. With this, a discussion will be presented concerning the limitations of established regulatory constructs, and reflect on the challenges associated with adapting such constructs to enable new forms of development whilst retaining legitimacy and effectiveness in controls and management.}, conference = {AESOP 2018: Making space for hope}, publicationstatus = {Unpublished}, url = {https://uwe-repository.worktribe.com/output/870666}, keyword = {Centre for Sustainable Planning and Environments, plotlands, low impact development, credibility, impartiality, legitimacy, unauthorised, illegal}, author = {Sheppard, Adam and McClymont, Katie} }