Abstract
Various land use planning regulations had been legislated upon in Nigeria over the years to control property development in order to ensure sustainable human environment. In spite of the existence of these laws, property development was still being carried out in a way that constituted environmental challenges in our cities. The challenges ranged from socio-spatial to institutional and undoubtedly political. This article aimed at identifying the challenges confronting development control and urban growth management measures by the planning institutions and its impact on physical planning within the Port Harcourt metropolitan. The objectives of this article was to evaluate the development control measures as currently applied, pinpoint the operational, institutional and political issues encountered by development control authorities as well as pinpoint the impact of these shortcomings on development activities in Port Harcourt. The doctrinal research methodology was adopted. It was revealed that developers did not adhere to percentage building coverage which specified the percentage of land area to be covered by the building on the plot. Developers resorted to construction in progress before making reference to the planning authority for development approval. The article revealed that the reasons advanced for these practices were among others, ignorance on the part of developers who developed their inherited land. The need to employ qualified Town Planners as Development Consultants was recommended and conclusively, given adequate human face with the right publicity, development control operations would be enhanced by voluntary compliance by private developers.
