Mark Smulian,
Regen.net,
1 September 2009
The shadow communities secretary has written to Conservative councils and MPs advising them to delay developments until a Tory administration gets into power.
In a letter to Conservative MPs and councils, seen by Regen.net, Caroline Spelman urges councils to do as little possible consistent with their legal obligations to implement the present government’s planning policy.
The letter said: "I would encourage councils to say 'no' when the Government attempts to force the council to act at a speed which is not a binding legal necessity."
In the letter, Spelman said she expected a Tory government would legislate to "abolish the bureaucratic and undemocratic tier of regional planning", in its first year.
But even before that, "we will consider whether to use the executive powers of the secretary of state to revoke the Regional Spatial Strategies in whole or in part", she said.
The party would also publish its draft changes to planning policy giving these "the status of 'emerging policy'", the letter said. It explained: "Hence, even before primary legislation is passed, local authorities will have the ability to put the brakes on elements of Regional Spatial Strategies which they find undesirable (for example, green belt reviews)."
The letter said local authorities would also be allowed to review their Local Development Frameworks "to undo unwanted planning policies which the Regional Spatial Strategies had imposed upon them".
A Tory government would "not pay a penny of compensation to speculative developers as a consequence to changes in planning policy", the letter added.
But a Home Builders Federation spokesman said the letter showed "no recognition of the desperate need in all parts of the country for more homes of all kinds and tenures or of the responsibility of local authorities to make provision for these". The spokesman added: "Rather, local authorities are being encouraged to put such considerations aside if they want to."
The HBF said the policy would lead to "a hiatus in planning for housing that could only exacerbate the supply crisis we already face".
