Regionalism dead and buried

Very pleasing Written Statement from the Communities and Local Government Minister Baroness Hanham It revokes the Regional Strategies for the West Midlands, North West and South West.

She says:

Subject to Parliamentary ratification, this completes the abolition of every Regional Strategy in England, thereby fulfilling an important Coalition Agreement objective and ushering in a new era of true localism across England. This is a milestone moment for planning and localism in this country. From now on, every local community in England will have more control over local planning and development.

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 house building 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.