This year, parliament is expected to see the passage of 27 bills compared to an average of 16. The Queen’s Speech, scheduled for the 6 December, comes at the latest point in the year for the past 80 years (Housing Today, 2 November).
The urban White Paper, due to be released this week, is the most recent latecomer, after missing its scheduled early autumn publication date.
The rural White Paper, meant to be released at the same time, has now been deferred for at least an extra two weeks, sources say.
And the National Strategy for Neighbourhood Renewal, one of the government’s flagship initiatives due to be released after the spending review in July, is yet to surface.
The Department of the Environment, Transport and the Regions said that while the housing bill was due on time for December, the publication of other proposals had been delayed by the dense batch of laws to pass through parliament.
A DETR spokesman added: "We are doing everything in our power to make sure that bills get through parliament quicker. There’s an enormous build-up due to the size of reform."
"The late publication has also happened because we are bringing together so many parts of not only our but other departments," he said.
"It’s also a result of waiting for the transport ten-year plan, which had a lot of importance for the urban and rural papers. But the pre-budget report, announcing the financial side of things is the deciding factor why the rural bill has flipped a couple of weeks in November," he added.
Release of the rural white paper has also been further set back by this week’s climate change conference in Holland, which the environment minister Michael Meacher was attending.
Source
Housing Today
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