MP 'disappointed' at decision taken in High Court about future of regional strategies but little has changed.
Winchester MP Steve Brine has commented on the judgement handed down today (Wednesday 10 November 2010) in the judicial review brought by Cala Homes following Eric Pickles revocation of regional strategies.
Mr Brine said; “I am disappointed in this decision and even more disappointed that Cala Homes felt the need to take this provocative step which has done little to endear their plans for Barton Farm to the people of Winchester. In reality however, this judgement changes very little. Later this month the Government will be introducing its Localism Bill to Parliament, which will sweep away the controversial regional strategies once and for all. Top-down targets don’t build homes – they’ve led to the lowest peacetime house-building rates since 1924 – and they leave communities powerless to shape the future of their area.
“The Government remains firmly resolved to scrap this layer of bossy, self-defeating, bureaucracy. Instead, we will work with local communities to build the homes they actually need. This was a commitment made in our general election manifesto and the Coalition Agreement. We intend to deliver on it.”
On 27 May 2010, the Government wrote to local planning authorities and to the Planning Inspectorate, informing them of the Coalition Government’s intention to rapidly abolish regional strategies in the Localism Bill and setting out its expectation that the letter should be taken into account as a “material planning consideration” in any decisions they were currently taking. A letter from the Chief Planner today (10 Nov 2010) confirms the status of that guidance still stands.
The Localism Bill will be introduced later this month, and the draft clause within it abolishing Regional Spatial Strategies has been published today in the House of Commons.
Pictured; Barton Farm on the outskirts of Winchester.