High Court rules that the Government acted unlawfully in revoking the Regional Strategies

The High Court has ruled today (10 November) that the Communities and Local Government Secretary, Eric Pickles, acted unlawfully when he unilaterally revoked the Regional Strategies in England.

Back in August, I wrote about Cala Homes (South) Ltd’s move to seek a judicial review of the Government’s decision to abolish the Regional Strategies in May this year, which it claimed was unlawful. The developer argued that primary legislation should have been introduced, so that MPs could properly debate the issue in Parliament.

Mr Pickles’ decision to revoke the Regional Strategies has been widely criticised in the housebuilding sector for effectively leaving a policy ‘vacuum’ in the planning process, because it removed housing targets and directly resulted in the abandonment of proposals to build tens of thousands of new homes.

So what happens now? Will the Regional Strategies be reinstated?

Well, the ruling may only succeed in delaying the scrapping of the housing targets until autumn 2011, when the impending Decentralisation and Localism Bill is expected to become law. Certainly, initial comments from departmental ministers following the ruling have confirmed that the Regional Strategies will still disappear, calling the High Court’s decision a “technicality” which “changes very little.” The Government is not expected to appeal the decision.

For housebuilders who have been hoping to gain some clarity on the situation since May, it is once again a case of wait and see…

UPDATE (Feb 2011): Cala Homes (South) Ltd has lost its High Court challenge against the Government’s claim that its intention to abolish the Regional Strategies should be considered by local planning authorities when ruling on planning applications. Click here for full details.