Housing Minister Brandon Lewis has stated that the Government will intervene to deliver a Local Plan if any Local Authority has not developed a Local Plan by ‘early 2017.’
Rural areas have suffered as a result of many local planning authorities failing to adopt a local plan or having out of date plans that are inadequate to the needs of rural areas.
CLA President Henry Robinson said: “Without local plans, rural businesses have had no certainty upon which to make plans and investment decisions, especially with regard to converting and building homes.
“By early 2017 it will have been 5 years since the National Planning Policy Framework came into force. The failure to deliver local plans has impeded growth in rural areas, as well as increasing the risk of the wrong types of development being brought forward in the wrong places.
“This announcement is too vague and falls way short of what is required. Reference to ‘early 2017’ is not the same as setting a deadline. We will urge Ministers to set a specific date and be explicit about the actions they will take to expedite the process if they miss it. The end result must be local plans that fully reflect the needs of rural areas and deliver rural growth.”
