Clarity needed over Pickles judgment, says Business Voice
Business Voice West Midlands is urging “a further injection of certainty” after communities secretary Eric Pickles was found to have acted unlawfully by revoking the country’s regional planning strategies. The umbrella organisation said more clarity was needed “so that the construction sector in the region knew where it stood”.
The High Court found yesterday that Pickles had acted unlawfully when he scrapped the former Labour government’s housing targets earlier this year.
Housing developers requested the decision be rebuked, meaning that in theory, building projects across the country could be reinstated.
Business Voice West Midlands’ executive director, James Watkins, said that further certainty was needed and that the construction sector knew where it stood.
He said: “Construction has needed certainty around planning and liquidity issues for some time.
“They have been worries from the business community that a swift removal of spatial strategies in advance of the Localism Bill becoming law could add to market uncertainty for the construction sector during this harsh economic cycle.
“We hope that this judgment will enable a thought-out transition from the outgoing planning system to the new one to now take place.”
