Every local community in England will have more control over local planning and development as the final 3 top-down Regional Strategies are to be revoked, Local Government Secretary Eric Pickles announced today (27 March 2013).
The top-down approach of Regional Strategies from the last administration imposed centrally set building targets on communities and coincided with the lowest peace-time levels of housebuilding since the 1920s.
The abolition of these unpopular and counter-productive Regional Strategies reinforces the importance of councils’ Local Plans produced with the involvement of local communities, as the keystone of the planning system. It is this approach that will help deliver the homes, jobs and infrastructure we need.
Planning and housebuilding works best when it is locally led and people have more control in shaping and deciding on development in the places they live. Orders will be laid in Parliament after recess to revoke the remaining strategies following which the Coalition Agreement pledge will be finally delivered, after delays following the European Court of Justice ruling.
Local Government Secretary Eric Pickles said:
“This government is committed to localism and greater local decision-making in planning. The flawed top-down targets of regional planning, centrally imposing development upon communities, built nothing but resentment. They will hang over communities no more.
“We have secured the abolition of every single strategy. We are committed to decentralising as much power as possible and these important and popular planning reforms will bring a significant shift in power to local people.”