Planning unit will be given the boot 'soon'
The Government's planning minister has said the controversial West Northamptonshire Development Corporation will be closed down "reasonably soon".
The organisation was set up in 2004 to push forward the former Government's housing targets and promote regeneration in Northampton, Daventry and Towcester.
But now the current Government has scrapped the housing targets, Bob Neill has said the need for quangos such as the WNDC is no longer there.
During a visit to Northampton yesterday, the planning minister toured the town and held meetings at both the Cobblers and Saints, where he met former WNDC boss and Saints chairman, Keith Barwell.
Discussing the WNDC's future, Mr Neill said: "It will close reasonably soon, although we're not specifying a date yet. We've decided in principal they should go, and we want to do it in a timely, but steady, fashion."
The minister said the closure of the WNDC would see planning powers returned to councils in Northampton, Daventry and Towcester, giving them the power to say which housing developments should be allowed to go ahead and which should be blocked.
He ruled out the idea that another organisation would be created to simply replace the WNDC, insisting "we're not in the business of creating new quangos".
It has been suggested however that the WNDC could remain in place until as late as 2012 or 2013 as experts from the WNDC are transferred over to local councils.
Northampton South's Conservative MP, Brian Binley, said: "If we just handed it all back to the councils tomorrow they wouldn't have the expertise they need, so we need to ensure we retain the experts."
During his visit to Northampton, Mr Neill also confirmed there was no chance of any new housing expansion targets being imposed by the Government.
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Saturday 26 May 2012
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