The director of the government Office for the South-east has hit out at the ODPM for forcing the area to prepare its regional spatial strategy too quickly.
Draft proposals for the strategy, which will replace the RPG9 planning guidance for the region, are due to go out for consultation next summer.

But Paul Martin said they would not be as "inclusive" as he wished and that the region could do a better job of preparing the strategy if it had more time to consult widely.

Speaking at the regional urban conference in Portsmouth on 11 September, Martin said: "To have to prepare the strategy in such a short time is very frustrating indeed."

Every region has to produce a spatial strategy – a framework for development – under the Planning and Compulsory Purchase Bill, which is now passing through parliament.

To have to prepare the regional spatial strategy in such a short time is very frustrating

Paul Martin, Government Office for the South-east

Speaking to Housing Today at the same conference, a member of the South-east regional housing board warned that time was also running short to prepare the second regional housing strategy, due in April 2004.

Detailed work cannot begin until the government responds to the first strategy – which it has not yet done.

Source

Housing Today