Member

We should reinforce the development plan as a basis for decision-making and as the basis on which local people expect their councillors to focus on what development should be taking place where. As a Member of Parliament, it was always intensely depressing to find people who had not engaged thoroughly with a local plan-making process and then, when an application was brought forward in accordance with the local plan, they all thought that was the moment to object to it. Of course, it was not. So, first, we need to reinforce this process.