Urban planning as a tool of environmental management in Kamwenge Town-Western Uganda

The existence of environmental problems in Kamwenge Town is due to lack of urban planning. Therefore the study is aimed at finding how urban planning can be used as an effective regulatory tool in the management of environmental problems in Kamwenge Town Council in western Uganda. The study focused on three objectives of determining the influence of urban planning in urban environmental management; establishing how Kamwenge Town can use urban planning in the management of its environmental problems and finally suggesting recommendations for effective urban planning in management of urban environmental problems in Kamwenge. This is an exploratory case study which employed questionnaires and interviews to obtain primary data. Maps, photographs and the use of existing literatures were used to extract secondary data. A sample size of 60 was chosen, with 40 questionnaires administered to the respondents of the community in Kamwenge Town, 10 questionnaires to the Town Council officials and 10 interview schedules to different organizations and Line Ministries. The selection was based on random and purposive sampling methods. The findings of the study indicated that environmental problems experienced in the Town such as air, noise, and water pollution are partly due to lack of enforcement of the existing urban plans. Another finding revealed that the Town Council is faced with management problems like limited financial resources, institutional capacity, and lack of committed leaders. Above all poor implementation of the land use plan was a challenge to the managers. The study further revealed that despite the several management problems experienced, there are still various stakeholders willing and involved in the environmental management right from the national level to local level. Lastly one of the findings portrayed that there are already a number of strategies that have been taken up to improve on the effectiveness of urban planning in Kamwenge and some of them are ongoing like revision of the Town and Country Planning Act, creation of an urban planning directorate, revision of the urban planning budgets. Further operational zing the Property Act of 2005 would make the council earn the much needed revenue because the council will henceforth levy property rates on commercial buildings. Conclusions were also drawn from the study which includes the lack of effective enforcement and implementation of structure plans that would have fixed some of the environmental problems in Kamwenge Town. Further it was found out that the council lacks human and financial capacities to conduct proper urban planning and management, there is lack of information data bank, lack of coordination of the various stakeholders working in the environmental management and failure to sensitize the community on the importance to maintain a clean environment by way of abiding by the urban plans. Some of the recommendations are that the legal framework need to be strengthened and adhered to at all times; human and financial capacity be improved and data banks and information centre established besides stepping up sensitisation campaigns among the community members.