Gavin Williamson, Member of Parliament for South Staffordshire has welcomed the announcement made by the Rt. Hon. Eric Pickles MP, Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government that the Government has published its consultation on a draft new national planning policy statement for traveller sites. Gavin is delighted that the consultation which will last until the 6th July has finally begun.
Commenting on this Gavin said:
‘What we have at the moment is an arrangement where it is one system for people who obey our planning laws and another for those who don’t. It is high time that the same law applied to everyone in the land. For far too long this injustice has blighted communities in South Staffordshire such as Huntington and Hatherton. I want to see the dreadful planning laws put in place by the previous Labour government reversed as quickly as possible so that our communities no longer have to endure this two tiered planning system that is blighting our greenbelt land.’
Gavin Williamson MP has been working solidly on this issue since being elected to represent South Staffordshire. Recently he presented a petition containing over 2,500 signatures to Parliament and he called an Adjournment Debate on the issue at which the Parliamentary Under Secretary of State, Andrew Stunnell MP, announced that the Government would be taking action on the issue in the future. That moment has now come and the consultation can be accessed here:
http://www.communities.gov.uk/corporate/publications/consultations.
Gavin is encouraging as many constituents as possible to take part in the consultation and he will be writing to all Parish Councils and County Councillors to encourage them to make their formal submissions as well.