ABSTRACT
It is more than a semantic point that the new regional planning documents were called ‘guidance’, since they were not statutory plans, although local authorities were formally required to have regard to them when revising their structure and local plans. Potentially, RPG documents could be used in evidence by those objecting to local authority plans, which in itself meant that local planners had to be concerned about their contents. Because the process is central to later discussion in this book, the basics of the RPG system are introduced here.
