§ Mr. HeddleTo ask the Secretary of State for the Environment if he will now make a statement on strategic planning guidance for London.
§ Mr. MoynihanI have placed copies of the strategic guidance for London in the Library today and will send my hon. Friend a copy.
I announced in the House that the guidance takes account of the comments received in consultation on the draft which the Secretary of State published on 6 March.
The purpose of the guidance is to help the local planning authorities in London to prepare their unitary development plans. It is not intended as a comprehensive "master plan" for London, but as a statement of the Government's policies on those matters relating to the development and use of land which need to be dealt with on a Londonwide basis. Within this framework, the guidance allows each borough wide freedom to draw up with the local community the unitary development plan for its area.
The guidance includes policies on business, industrial, retail and tourist development; road and rail infrastructure and the relationship between transport and land use; provision for additional housing for the next decade; protection of the green belt, metropolitan open land and other open spaces; conservation of the natural and the built environment; and preservation of the character of the River Thames.
The guidance marks an important further step away from the cumbersome, centralised planning of the 1960s and 1970s towards the effective and well-focused development plans London will need as it faces the opportunities of the 1990s.
Copies of the guidance are being sent to all London Members of Parliament.