COMMUNITIES AND LOCAL
GOVERNMENT News Release (302) issued by COI News Distribution
Service. 5 December 2008
The Government
today (5 December) published wide-ranging legislation that will
give local people new rights to shape local services and give
greater responsibility to local authorities to promote economic
development helping communities respond to local challenges.
Strong communities will help the country come through the
economic challenges we face. And, Communities Secretary Hazel
Blears is clear that we need to unlock the potential of local
people and involve them in shaping their services and communities.
Re-invigorating and strengthening local democracy is key.
She believes that the new Bill will offer people and communities
those opportunities - underpinning the Government's
commitment to doing all it can to help people, businesses and
communities through the current economic hardships and to prepare
effectively for economic recovery.
At the heart of the Local Democracy, Economic Development and
Construction Bill is:
* a new duty on local councils to promote democracy - putting
local authorities at the forefront of the drive to reconnect
people with public and political decision-making. The duty will
ensure all sections of their community understands how the council
works, who makes the decisions on their behalf in their
neighbourhood, and how they can get involved if they wish to
* new rights for the citizen to have more information and
influence over the local decisions
* new powers to hold politicians and officials to account
* a new duty on local councils to respond to petitions
As well as strengthening local democracy the Bill addresses
economic development. To make sure that all areas are making plans
for recovery from the economic slowdown and taking action to
support businesses and boost jobs and skills:
* there will be new regional strategies in each of the English
Regions to bring together economic and spatial planning
* a new duty on local authorities to assess the economic
conditions of their area
* further powers for councils to work together to promote
economic development and regeneration
The Bill also improves current legislation on commercial
contracts to provide a fairer system for construction companies
and improve cash flow - especially important for small and medium
construction companies.
Hazel Blears said:
"The new Bill will give every neighbourhood, city and region
the opportunity to unlock the potential and the talent of its
people. It will give local authorities more power and freedom to
respond to local needs - and through stronger engagement and
consultation with their communities they will be able to do this
more effectively.
"The current economic downturn is having a huge impact on
our communities. This Bill sets out the framework for every level
of government to address the economic issues facing their areas in
a coordinated and effective way, and plan for sustainable economic
growth in every region of the country."
Key measures are:
* Duty to promote democracy - this supports evidence that local
authorities who actively involve people in decision-making benefit
from higher public satisfaction. The duty will ensure councils
raise awareness of their work and services so people can find out
and understand how decisions about services that affect are made,
how to make their voice heard and how to stand for a civic role.
* Duty on local authorities to respond to petitions - a recent
YouGov survey found that 90% of people think councils should take
account of petitions - even though LGA survey showed less than a
third of councils guarantee a response. The new duty will require
councils to respond to petitions - improving transparency in local
decision-making and the extent to which citizens feel able to
influence local decisions.
* Extending the duty to involve - growing evidence highlights
that involving citizens in the local decisions and services
affecting them is an effective way of driving up the performance
of public services. This duty already applying to best value local
authorities from April 2009 is being extended to partner
authorities to give citizen's and communities more
opportunities to have a meaningful say.
* Providing funding for a National Tenant Voice - to ensure
tenants' views are central to decision-making processes.
* Strengthening overview and scrutiny - growing evidence suggests
the number of scrutiny officers is decreasing as the range of work
carried out by overview and scrutiny committees is increasing.
Proposals plan to boost capacity and raise awareness of overview
and scrutiny through the creation of a scrutiny officer and
broadening the scope of what joint overview and scrutiny
committees can consider.
* Making the Boundary Committee for England and independent body
and separate from the Electoral Commission - implements Committee
on Standards in Public Life recommendations to ensure the
Electoral Commission's integrity and public confidence.
Legislating for a separate Boundary Committee will establish a
strong national body that is impartial, independent and solely
focused on overseeing boundary changes (electoral, administrative
and structural) in England.
* Duty on local authorities to undertake an economic assessment
of their area - to ensure that authorities have the right evidence
to make informed decisions about promoting economic development
* New Regional Strategy for each English region (except London) -
these new strategies will bring together and integrate economic
and spatial planning in each region. They will be developed in by
the Regional Development Agency in partnership with a new local
authority Leaders' Board.
* New powers to create 'Economic Prosperity Boards' -
to give local authorities the ability to create corporate bodies
at sub-regional level to promote economic development
* Allow creation of multi area agreements (MAAs) with statutory
duties - these will provide a further option for local authorities
to work together on economic development by allowing MAAs to be
put on a similar statutory footing to Local Area Agreements.
* Amendments to Part 2 of the Housing Grants, Construction and
Regeneration Act 1996 - to improve cash flow and the referral of
disputes to adjudication under construction contracts.
The Bill is the next step in transforming communities and public
services - by implementing policies set out in Communities in
Control White Paper, published by Hazel Blears in the summer, and
in the Government's Review of Sub-National Economic
Development and Regeneration (SNR).
Background
1. The duties relating to the promotion of democracy, the duty on
local authorities to respond to local petitions, the extension of
the duty to involve and the strengthening overview & scrutiny
provisions were outlined in of Communities in control: real
people, real powering in July 2008: http://www.communities.gov.uk/publications/communities/communitiesincontrol
2. The introduction of the local authority economic assessment
duty, regional strategies, Economic Prosperity Boards and MAAs
with duties were initially discussed in the Review of Sub-National
Economic Development and Regeneration (the SNR), published July
2007. The bill provisions follow a public consultation on the SNR
and the Government's response, published on the 25 November
2008: http://www.communities.gov.uk/news/corporate/1073664
3. The Bill will be available at http://services.parliament.uk/bills/
4. The Bill was introduced in the House of Lords on 4th December 2008.
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