When it comes to planning law who should we listen to?We still have Regional Spatial Strategies in force, a Planning Inspectorate who have regard to them, a Localism Bill on its way through its Parliamentary stages and Ministerial guidance which suggests we ought to do what we believe is right for our communities.In the middle of this we have hard nosed developers & their legal advisers causing mayhem through the courts.Planning does matter & it is the single biggest & most contentious issue in those areas that were identified as 'Growth Areas' under the old Prescott regime at ODPM.I fear that until the Localism Act comes into force & all its required guidance notes follow, that we may be stuck with out of date & unwanted legislation in the form of an RSS, this applies in many places & will cause a great deal of aggro until it is sorted out.Until then there are a few highly remunerated planning QC's such as Peter Village making a packet out of the confusion.
