"Baldrick, have you no idea what irony is?" asked Blackadder . "Yes, it's like goldy and bronzy only it's made out of iron". As well as being a light-hearted way to start a blog this could also be a light-hearted way to start a conversation with Eric Pickles, which, all being well, I may get the chance to do one day, because I would very much like to ask him if he sees the irony inherent in the Housing & Planning Bill (H&PB) and it's objective of ensuring that all councils have local plans in place by 2017. Back in July 2010, Readers will recall, within months of becoming the Coalition Government's Secretary of State (SoS) for Communities & Local Government, Mr Pickles revoked Regional Spatial Strategies (RSSs) on the basis that they represented ' Soviet-style planning ' and 'Stalinist top-down regional targets' that must go in favour of 'more local decision-making'. Little can Mr Pickles have imagined