The IHBC has welcomed ministerial commitment to consult on the re-draft of CLG’s draft Planning Policy Statement on the Historic Environment (PP 15), while re-affirming the importance of a proper ‘consultation and listening process’ involving all stakeholders.
Following representations by the IHBC and other key bodies to the CMS and CLG Parliamentary Committees over the draft PPS, and the Committees’ subsequent call for the government to ‘consult’ on any re-drafting, John Healey MP, Minister for Housing and Planning, has responded confirming that their forward strategy ‘will certainly involve some form of stakeholder consultation’.
The Committees have now written back to the IHBC and the other correspondents to offer further opportunities to ‘write to the Committees again setting out your concerns’ if unhappy with the process.
The commitment on the part of the Minister to consult with stakeholder organisations has been welcomed by the Committees and by all parties to these more recent notices. The Historic Towns Forum (HTF) has responded with a letter to the CMS committee registering its expectations . The HTF letter stresses ‘how important it is for the proposed consultation to be fair, rigorous and transparent’ and that ‘the Forum will expect to be one of the stakeholders consulted’.
The IHBC has endorsed the HTF’s position as the only way to ensure that any new PPS does not further undermine the quality or capacity of local authority conservation services already sorely threatened by government cutbacks, calling for a proper consultation and listening process.
