HomeParty's Green Paper 'Open Source Planning'.
Summary: The Government has announced its intention to revoke Regional Spatial Strategies and reform the planning system in line with the principles set out in the Conservative Party's Green Paper 'Open Source Planning'
As you may be aware, the Government has announced its intention to abolish Regional Spatial Strategies and reform the planning system in line with the principles set out in the Conservative Party's Green Paper 'Open Source Planning'.
As a result, the funding that East Midlands Councils receives for regional planning related work (£1.88 million for 2010/11) is to be cut as part of the £6.2 billion savings package announced yesterday, and abolished completely for future years.
We currently have funding for the first quarter of 2010/11 (until the end of June). We are working with CLG officials and Ministers will make a decision next week on whether the second quarter funding should be released to support transitional arrangements - however the outcome is far from certain.
As a result, we will need to wind down the strategy function of East Midlands Councils over a very short period of time, and possibly by the end of June. This will initially involve up to 15 staff being placed in a redundancy situation, with the possibility of more to follow later in the year.
Within the time available to us we intend to leave matters in good order, and will be taking forward discussions with various partners to ensure that as much as possible can be taken forward by other means.
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