English Devolution and Community Empowerment Bill
Debate between Ben Maguire and Miatta FahnbullehTuesday 21st April 2026
(1 month, 3 weeks ago)
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Miatta Fahnbulleh
No, to our mayors, our local leaders and our communities. Not acknowledging that is quite simply churlish.
The right hon. Gentleman raised the key issue of scrutiny of commissioners and all the key decision makers at strategic authority level. We recognise and agree with that, which is why we have included amendments to introduce stronger local scrutiny committees with greater teeth, so that with greater responsibility comes an accountability framework to make sure that we hold decision makers to account on behalf of local people.
On the question of reviewing the protection of public spaces, I am the Minister responsible for green and public spaces, and I am absolutely committed to making sure that such assets are available to all our communities. We are committed to doing a review, and we are very clear that the powers that have been introduced with regard to statutory trusts will not be used until we have concluded that review.
The hon. Member for Guildford (Zöe Franklin) spoke to Lords amendment 2. Again, there is no agreement on policy. We are very clear that mayors have a responsibility to ensure that their rural communities are looked after and protected, and the reality of what we are seeing in places like North Yorkshire is that that is exactly what our mayors are doing. We do not believe that we need to put that on the face of the Bill, because it sits within each of the competencies that mayors will have to take on board. The guidance that sits alongside that, which points to good practice and the work that mayors have done, will be far more powerful in ensuring that this policy bites in the communities where we want it to bite.
Several Members spoke about the brownfield-first approach, and we agree with that policy. That is very clear in the national planning policy framework, which we have strengthened to ensure that it is the case. [Interruption.] No, I am not just saying it, because that is the policy, and the policy determines what happens in the planning framework. However, we are clear that is there is variability—[Interruption.] The shadow Secretary of State says we are centralising, but we say we should leave it to mayors and local authorities to deal with diversity in their particular circumstances, so that they are not caught in legal wrangling, but can make such choices. The policy is very clear: it is about putting brownfield first. Critically, unlike the last Government, we are investing to enable our councils and our mayors to remediate and regenerate such land, so that the policy can bite in the way it is supposed to.
On the question of the cabinet and leader model, I go back to the fact that we are doing this because we fundamentally care about creating strong local authorities that can deliver for their people. Some 80% of local authorities already have this model, and it is effective. We have already made the concession that, where alternatives such as the committee model or the mayoral model exist in particular places, they can see out their terms. However, we think it is right to move in the long term to a model that will serve local people.
The hon. Member for Guildford also talked about devolution being imposed. On the approach we have taken to strategic authorities—I ask the House to judge us by the way we are acting, not just by the words I say—we are incredibly clear that it is ultimately for local partnerships to come together, and Government will enable and pass devolution down to them. We are not imposing, and we are committed to not imposing.
Miatta Fahnbulleh
I will make progress because there is very little time left.
I do have to take issue with the point about neighbourhood governance. We are told that we are centralising and trying to impose models on communities, yet on the question of neighbourhood governance, the hon. Member for Guildford and her party want to impose a particular model on communities. We say that is wrong, and we take a very different approach. Ultimately, it should be for communities to determine the right neighbourhood governance structure for their place. Town and parish councils—I agree that they exist in 80% of the geography—will have a role in this, and where that is the will of communities, that should be what those communities do. However, other communities will want to take different approaches, and we think it is right that communities should build on what they have, and that it should ultimately be for communities to determine what they do.
Pride in Place
Debate between Ben Maguire and Miatta Fahnbulleh(7 months, 3 weeks ago)
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Miatta Fahnbulleh
We will start investing. Phase 1 places are already receiving capacity funding, and £2 million will flow from next year. Phase 2 places—the places we recently announced—will receive capacity funding from next year, with full funding flowing from the year after. This is potentially a way to revolutionise the way that government works. We are very keen to work with Departments across Whitehall. We are saying, “Here is a way of investing in communities that genuinely puts communities in the driving seat.” Hopefully it has the impact that we want.
Ben Maguire (North Cornwall) (LD)
I was really disappointed that Cornwall, despite having some of the most deprived towns in the country, will not receive a penny of pride in place funding. At a time when our shared prosperity funding is to stop, I am concerned to hear the Minister mention that the north and the midlands will receive pride in place funding. I hope she clears that up. Will she meet me and my constituent Fin Irwin, who has really exciting plans for Bodmin’s Fore Street in my constituency? They could be the basis for a great pilot involving social housing, opportunities for small businesses and community spaces, and it would prove that the Government want regional growth everywhere.
Oral Answers to Questions
Debate between Ben Maguire and Miatta Fahnbulleh(7 months, 4 weeks ago)
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Miatta Fahnbulleh
One hundred per cent. Devolution offers the opportunity to put communities in the driving seat and give them genuine power. For example, this Government’s Pride in Place programme puts communities right at the centre, because we think that is how to ensure that communities come together to drive the change that they want to see in their area. We encourage all councils to work closely with their local communities to make that change happen.
Ben Maguire (North Cornwall) (LD)