66H.— (1) The Minister may, following consultation with such public authorities as he or she considers appropriate, make regulations for the purposes of the relevant sections and sections 128B to 128F either generally or in relation to a regional assembly or a local authority or a Committee or to a particular class or classes of regional assemblies or local authorities or Committees and each regional assembly, local authority and Committee shall, to the extent that those regulations apply to it, comply with those regulations.

(2) The Minister may, in particular but without prejudice to the generality of subsection (1), make regulations under that subsection in relation to the Plans including—

(a) the preparation of a Plan,

(b) the co-ordination of the preparation of the economic and community elements of a Plan,

(c) the integration of the economic and community elements into a Plan,

(d) the timing of the preparation of a Plan,

(e) the role of the strategic policy committee established pursuant to section 48(1A),

(f) extending or shortening the period of a Plan for the purposes of synchronising the time period for a Plan with other relevant plans and strategies,

(g) the format and content of a Plan,

(h) the procedures and processes to ensure consistency with the core strategy and objectives of the development plan of a local authority,

(i) the procedures and processes to ensure consistency with the regional spatial and economic strategy and any regional planning guidelines referred to in subsections (2)(c)(ii), (3)(c)(ii) and (4)(a)(ii) of section 66C for the purposes of Chapter III of Part II of the Act of 2000,

(j) engagement and consultation with the local community in the preparation of a Plan,

(k) public consultation when a Plan is being prepared or reviewed, including the procedures and processes for seeking the timely and effective participation by the public concerned,

(l) developing performance indicators and arrangements for measuring performance of a Plan,

(m) publication of a Plan,

(n) implementation of a Plan, including the preparation, review and updating of the implementation strategies provided for in section 66E(2) and the arrangements for implementation provided for in section 128B(1), and

(o) the review and amendment of a Plan.

(3) For the purposes of the relevant sections and sections 128B to 128F, the Minister may issue general policy guidelines in relation to—

(a) principles guiding the preparation of the Plan,

(b) matters to be taken into consideration when a public consultation process is being undertaken for the purposes of preparing or reviewing the Plan,

(c) matters to be taken into account when a review of the Plan is being undertaken,

(d) avoidance of duplication and optimising the use of available resources,

(e) implementation arrangements for the Plan, and

(f) any other matter of a general policy nature that the Minister considers appropriate for inclusion in the guidelines,

and guidelines issued under this subsection may relate generally to all local authorities or to a particular class or classes of local authorities and shall, in so far as the guidelines relate to them, be complied with by every local authority, municipal district members and each Committee.]