§ Mr. HarveyTo ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions what response he has made to the draft Devon County Structure Plan. [64152]
§ Mr. CabornWe have carefully considered the proposed modifications to the Devon Structure Plan First Review which were published on 28 September and have made objections to a number of policies that appear to conflict with national guidance. A number of objections have been resolved and the extant objections relate to policies S6, C7, C12, C23, T14, H1, E8 and T12.
The objection to policy HI stated:
There is no clear justification for a reduction in the overall provision for housing, below that recommended by the Panel. There appears to be no justification for reducing provision in anticipation 539W of a reduction in vacancy rates, having regard to the Panel's findings. Taking account of the panels findings, there does not appear to be a sound basis for projecting a lower level of net in-migration and household formation and that contained in the DETR 1992 based household projections.From a regional perspective, the district distribution is in part consequential on the county provision. However, the reduced allocations for Plymouth and Exeter (compared to those recommended by the Panel) appear to conflict with national and regional objectives in PPG13 para 3.2 and RPGIO para 6.7 and 'Planning for the Communities of the Future' para 58".