§ Mr. MillsTo ask the Secretary of State for the Environment if he now proposes to review the housing figure of 7,500 in the Solihull unitary development plan originally recommended in the west midlands strategic guidance of February 1988; and if he will make a statement.
§ Mr. BaldryThe strategic guidance for the west midlands, published in February 1988, establishes the level of new housing completions to be provided in individual unitary development plans between April 1988 and March 2001. The Secretary of State considers that it is not the role of those individual plans to review the strategic guidance figures. Such a review will be carried out in the context of regional guidance for the west midlands, which the Secretary of State intends to publish during 1994.
The inspector into the Solihull unitary development plan endorsed this approach. However, in examining the level of housing supply needed to meet the figure of 7,500, he concluded that further sites should be identified, and he also indicated that the authority should identify a reasonable amount of further land to meet longer-term development needs. The borough council is considering his recommendations and will publish its response in the form of proposed modifications, which will themselves be open to objection.