In this paper the approach to service development planning in the ‘Third World’ put forward by Rushton in his 1988 Roepke Lecture is critically examined. The approach is founded on location—allocation modelling methods. It is argued that although technical improvements in these models mean that they can now represent decision situations more realistically, their conceptual structure is such that they frame the problems of service development planning in a limited way. Specific limits are discussed and identified as an expression of the spatial separatist theme. In his approach Rushton proposes important innovations concerning the role of location—allocation models in the planning process, but the radical potential of his suggestions about the way the models may be used is likely to be diminished by the limits to analysis and prescription which follow from the way the models are constructed.
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