Empowering local communities

A cross-party group of MPs is campaigning to give people more say over decisions affecting where they live.  Nick Hurd, Conservative MP for Ruislip-Northwood, sets out how the Sustainable Communities Act can help councils influence change.

Over the last 25 years we have lost a quarter of our post office and bank branch network, along with over 30,000 independent retailers. We are now waking up to the social cost attached to this trend. High streets and town centres are beginning to look the same. We are by necessity driving more, when the need to go green means we should be driving less, and many elderly people have limited access to the basic requirements once found in their local communities. Many of us feel that we should be doing more to support small, local businesses that reinforce a sense of community (pictured). The political problem is that too many people feel powerless to do anything about it.

A new act of parliament is designed to meet these concerns. The Sustainable Communities Act was not born in government. It is the result of a cross-party campaign supported by over 80 national organisations and many local authorities. It exists due to huge popular support for its core principle, which is that local people should have more influence over the decisions that shape their future.

Spending break down

So what does the Act do? This October, the government will invite every local authority to consult their communities and propose new ideas for powers they need to shape more sustainable communities. The LGA will have a pivotal role in working with government to agree on the best ideas to go into a national plan. To help local authorities further, the government is required to break down all government expenditure by local authority area. For the first time we will be able to see what every government department is spending on our behalf. The Act then enables us to argue for functions and resources to be transferred. For example, a local authority with a target to support local businesses can review what the nationally funded business link service does in the area and make a case for taking over that budget.

The Act is radical. It gives local authorities the opportunity to drive change in national policy and to access more resources in order to assert local priorities. Of course there will be scepticism about the ability to win arguments with Whitehall, but we have worked hard to ensure that government has a ‘duty to agree’ and not just a duty to consult. It gives councillors the opportunity to engage even more with the communities they serve because there is now a real chance of influencing change, whether it be saving the local post office or stopping the destruction of green spaces.

This opportunity only exists, however, if local authorities take part. There is no requirement on them to do so. The crossparty campaign behind the Act is now working with national organisations as diverse as the Women’s Institute and the Campaign for Real Ale to mobilise a grassroots movement with the message to their elected representatives of “get involved”. That is the message that I and my co-sponsors of the Act, Julia Goldsworthy MP (Lib Dem) and David Drew MP (Labour), would like to spread.

 • For more information see www.suscomms.org.uk