§ Mr. O'BrienTo ask the Secretary of State for the Environment what advice he is giving to district and parish councils following his decision to abolish structure plans as drawn by county councils; and if he will make a statement.
§ Mr. ChopeThe proposal to replace structure plans with briefer statements of county planning policies was included in the Government's consultation paper "The Future of Development Plans", issued in September 1986. We shall shortly be announcing our conclusions in the light of that consultation.
Planning policy guidance note No. 12, on local plans, was issued on 30 November. It urges district planning 48W authorities to extend the coverage of statutory local plans. It also makes clear that work done on local plans would not be lost in any new system of development plans, since provision would be made to enable up-to-date local plans to be carried over into the new system.