 Castle Point MP, Rebecca Harris, has welcomed at the letter sent by Eric Pickles MP, Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, to all Chief Planners and the Planning Inspectorate.
Mr Pickles has confirmed in his letter the Coalition's Government's commitment to abolish the regional spatial strategies and return decisions on housing supply to local authorities. He has advised that the letter should be taken into account as a material consideration in any decisions on planning. Rebecca raised some of these issues with the Secretary of State last week.
Rebecca Harris said: "I am delighted that this commitment has made it into the coalition agreement. I campaigned hard on the issue during the election and I brought Eric to see for himself some of the more controversial sites Castle Point Borough Council were having to consider to meet Labour's targets over a year ago.
"It is vital that we get rid of these regional plans and that democratically-elected councillors are free to put local people's views and needs first, not the plans of some remote Quango. And it is important that unpopular decisions aren't pushed through before the Government has an opportunity to legislate.
"I congratulate members of the Castle Point planning committee on their rejection last week of some unpopular planning proposals, including the Kiln Road development which has always been rejected by democratically-elected councillors. This is great news, which has been warmly welcomed by campaigners, and just shows what good Conservative policies can do to this process". | 
