Erewash Borough Council’s leader has given a full and detailed response in a letter to the Government following its intervention over the authority wanting to withdraw its local housing masterplan.
A council meeting to discuss the blueprint – known as the Erewash Core Strategy Review – had to be adjourned after the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities intervened at the 11th hour.
Councillors had convened at Long Eaton Town Hall only to be told that they were barred from making alterations to the long-running masterplan.
Minister of State for Housing, Planning and Building Safety, Lee Rowley MP, contacted the council on behalf of the Secretary of State to say that he was invoking his powers to stop the administration from keeping a manifesto pledge to take a new look at the blueprint.
Leader of Erewash Borough Council, Councillor James Dawson’s response - following legal advice - states: “If as a Council we wish to prepare a replacement plan which is right for our communities then this is for us to decide, in line with central government advice which is promoting decision making and engagement at a local level.”