Industry should “bear with” the government as it works through the details of its localism policies, industry experts were told at last month’s (September) HBF Planning conference. <br> <br> Communities and Local Government’s (CLG) director general Richard McCarthy explained to a packed room of delegates that more information on the interim measures for its localism planning policy and New Homes Bonus would be available in the spending review next month. <br> <br> “With the spending review, we’ll rapidly move to a position of clarity,” McCarthy said. “It will be a moment for local government. The pro-development message is not throwaway – the government means everything it says.” <br> <br> Earlier in his speech, McCarthy stated that communities secretary Eric Pickles was faced with no choice but to announce the removal of regional spatial strategies (RSSs) in the summer: “Imagine being Eric Pickles at this moment and in a position where RSSs had not been revoked. There would have been too much pressure to show intent. There was no other choice but to remove RSSs to show his seriousness towards localism.” <br> <br> But he added that the revocation of RSSs should not have been “a signal for LAs to stop …