Today's entry reports on the European Union's critique
of the United Kingdom economy as it relates to infrastructure
planning.
On Tuesday, the European Union published in its Official Journal
(OJEU) the recommendations of the Council of the EU on reform
programmes for 23 of its 28 countries (the missing ones are Cyprus,
Greece, Portugal and Ireland, which presumably are getting more
frequent attention, and Croatia, which has only just joined).
Each report contains a preamble assessing recent performance and
then a short number of recommendations. In the preamble of
the UK
report planning is mentioned twice. First, in
relation to housing, it says:
(12) The Government has taken action to reform the spatial
planning laws but residential construction remains at a low level
and the planning system, including green belt restrictions,
continues to be an important constraint on the supply of
housing.
