173 Regional reports.S
(1)A general or regional planning authority may, in advance of the submission of a structure plan to the Secretary of State, or at any time thereafter, prepare and submit to the Secretary of State a report on their district in accordance with the provisions of this section.
(2)If so directed by the Secretary of State, a general or regional planning authority shall submit such a report to him within a period specified in the direction.
(3)The report shall be based on the survey mentioned in section 4 of the Act of 1972, or any part of that survey, or on material prepared for that survey or part, and shall consist of planning policy proposals for the district of the authority as a whole or any part of it, as respects the matters mentioned in section 5(3) of that Act, having regard to the requirements of section 5(4) of that Act.
(4)Before submitting the report to the Secretary of State, a regional planning authority shall consult every district planning authority within their region, and every other planning authority who are likely to be affected by the report, and at the same time as the regional planning authority submit the report to the Secretary of State they shall send a copy of the report to every such planning authority.
(5)The Secretary of State shall make observations on each report submitted to him under this section and shall transmit those observations to all planning authorities to whom a copy of the report was sent under subsection (4) above, and the general or regional planning authority concerned shall publish within their district the report together with the observations of the Secretary of State.
(6)In the event of the failure of a general or regional planning authority to submit to him a report under this section, the Secretary of State may himself prepare and publish such a report, and any expenses certified by him as having been incurred in so doing shall on demand be repaid by the authority concerned to the Secretary of State.
(7)All planning authorities shall, in the exercise of their functions as such, have regard to any report and observations made under this section which affect or are likely to affect them.