I recently encountered a SharePoint environment based on the publishing site template where the administrators had removed the option to set the allowed/default page layouts and site templates for a site. Normally, this is found under “Site Settings -> Look and Feel -> Page layouts and site templates”, but the option was gone.
It turns out that you can still access the page, even if the link isn’t there – you just need to know the URL:
/_Layouts/AreaTemplateSettings.aspx
If you want to set the page layouts and site templates in the normal way, via the UI, see Set the Preferred Page Layouts and Site Templates on the Microsoft Office site.
Hannah's SharePoint 