Written question asked by Lord Greaves (Liberal Democrat), in the House of Lords. It was answered by Baroness Hanham (Conservative) on Wednesday, 23 June 2010.

Regional Strategies

Question: To ask Her Majesty’s Government what advice they are giving to local planning authorities about existing work and the commissioning of new work on local development frameworks pending new legislation to enact proposals in The Coalition: Our Programme for Government.

Answer: The Government believe it is important for local authorities to have local plans in place to direct sustainable development and provide certainty to investors and communities and that they should carry on preparing them. The Secretary of State has written to all local authorities confirming the coalition Government's intension to abolish regional strategies and housing targets and that he expects authorities to have regard to his letter as a material consideration in planning decisions. That includes decisions on the preparation of local development frameworks.

Secondary information