Implementing sustainability in Surrey: amending the East Clayton neighbourhood concept plan.

This paper examines the implementation of the East Clayton Neighbourhood Concept Plan (NCP) in Surrey, B.C., between adoption of the NCP in 2003 and 2008. Created through a partnership project between the City of Surrey and the University of British Columbia, the NCP includes an implicit commitment to sustainability through seven planning principles. These sustainable planning principles were compromised by amendments to the NCP to enable developers to build more ‘marketable’ projects. This analysis looks at what type of amendments to the NCP were most prevalent, their cumulative impact in the neighbourhood as well as the sustainable planning principles affected. The NCP amendments are an example of the way the inherent conflict between land both as a social good and a private commodity is negotiated.