§ The Minister for Housing and Planning (Keith Hill)My right hon. Friend the Deputy Prime Minister will publish this week for public consultation proposed changes to the draft revised regional planning guidance for Yorkshire and the Humber (RPG12). They follow the public examination into the selective review of RPG12 held in February 2004.
The panel that held the public examination endorsed the approach taken by the Yorkshire and Humber assembly in the selective review and recommended only modest changes to clarify and refine the document. More radical changes to RPG should await preparation of a regional spatial strategy (RSS), which the assembly is currently working on to prepare a draft by April 2005.
The proposed changes being published this week reflect this approach. They are largely as recommended by the panel and are modest in nature. They also take account of suggestions made in the public consultation last autumn, the sustainability appraisal carried out on draft revised RPG, and to take account of national policy. The main issues addressed in the selective review of RPG and covered by the proposed changes are as follows: