On 5 April, planning minister Bob Neill announced in a parliamentary ministerial statement that the Government will assess the environmental impact of revoking each regional strategy… possibly to avoid further legal challenges to this controversial decision. (Click here for details of Cala Homes’ long-running legal battle with the Government over the revocation of the regional strategies.)
This environmental assessment will be “voluntary”, but the Government intends to produce one environmental report per region. It will then be consulted on, in line with the process laid down in the Environmental Assessment of Plans and Programmes Regulations 2004, in order to help local authorities identify issues relevant to their areas and policies or initiatives in the regional strategies which are no longer in effect.
The Government intends to abolish the regional strategies through the Localism Bill, and the environmental assessment process will be carried out during the Bill’s parliamentary progress.
