The High Court issued a judgment on November 10th ruling that Communities Secretary Eric Pickles had acted unlawfully last July in his decision to immediately revoke Regional Spatial Strategies (RSS).
The house builder, CALA Homes, challenged this decision in August by claiming that Mr Pickles had acted outside his powers.
Following the High Court’s decision the Government issued a statement declaring that very little had changed. They also confirmed that it was still their intention to remove RSS’s and that this should be a material consideration in all future planning decisions. That said the government is only now able to remove RSS’s if a law is passed through parliament allowing them to do so.
The draft version of this law is called the Localism Bill. However as it is unlikely that this will become an actual law for at least another year, both the RSS and its housing targets will still form part of Bradford’s Statutory Development Plan in the meantime. Further updates will be available within Plan-it Bradford.
Read the High Courts decision here: http://www.bailii.org/ew/cases/EWHC/Admin/2010/2866.html
The Yorkshire and Humber Plan - The Regional Spatial Strategy
The Yorkshire and Humber Plan sets out a broad long-term strategy for development in the Region. It covers topics such as housing, economic development, transport, the environment and regeneration.
The Yorkshire and Humber Plan is the Regional Spatial Strategy (RSS) for this region. The Plan was adopted in May 2008. The RSS is a statutory document and part of the development plan. It informs the preparation of Local Development Frameworks and is an important consideration in the determination of planning applications.
A Revised Plan for the Region
In 2008, the Yorkshire and Humber Assembly began to undertake a review of the Plan, entitled The Housing Challenge: Regional Spatial Strategy 2009 Update, to look at how the region can deal with the issue of housing growth to address its investment needs and strategic priorities.
The Assembly is consulted on Spatial Options for the 2009 Update from 10 November 2008 to 30 January 2009. The Spatial Options asked questions about the scale of housing development we should be planning for and where in the long term this housing might be accommodated.
Bradford Council submitted comments to the Yorkshire & Humber Assembly regarding the spatial options. All the consultation responses, including the Council’s, can be viewed on the Yorkshire & Humber Assembly’s website. Bradford Council’s response is featured within ‘Paper 2: Responses SO27 – SO52’ on page 77.
Please note that from 1st April 2009 the Yorkshire and Humber Assembly has ceased to exist. The work of the Assembly will be taken forward by a combination of Local Government Yorkshire and Humber and Yorkshire Forward . You can find out more about their current work from their websites: www.lgyh.gov.uk and www.yorkshire-forward.com
