Sustainable Communities Act

Greg Clark Excerpts

Monday 28th March 2011 Commons Chamber

[The Minister of State, Department for Communities and Local Government (Greg Clark)]

I warmly congratulate the hon. Member for Brighton, Pavilion (Caroline Lucas) on securing this debate. I am happy to give her my full commitment to the Sustainable Communities Act 2007, which is one of the most important Acts that this House has passed. The fact that it was passed with cross-party support underlines its continuing significance to how we govern ourselves in future.

For my money, the Act is one of the most important Acts of the past decade, because it contains, as the hon. Lady knows, two important principles: first, that communities should have the right to know what is done by public bodies in their area on their behalf; and secondly, that communities, armed with that information, have the right to suggest alternative, better ways that might enable them to thrive, as she described. The Act is a seminal piece of legislation, and I congratulate our predecessors who campaigned long and hard for it, and the coalition led by Local Works, which did so much in the community.

The hon. Lady describes her long association with the campaign. When I was selected as a parliamentary candidate in 2004 and first went canvassing on the doorstep, almost the first question I was asked—from Mr Philip Clarkson Webb, a constituent whom I have come to know—was whether, if elected, I would support the Sustainable Communities Bill. I told him that I did not know but that I would find out, and it is a thrill to speak at the Dispatch Box now in support of the Act.

I hope to reassure the hon. Lady on some of her points. The Act is seminal in other ways, because of its impact on other legislation. Its principles of dialogue, collaboration, and genuine, bottom-up democracy are a recurring theme in the coalition agreement, and unite both parties to the coalition. Those principles wholly permeate, and to a significant degree have inspired, the Localism Bill, to which she drew attention, which completed its Committee stage earlier this month.

The principles of dialogue, collaboration and bottom-up democracy also underpin our consultation on the new regulations to govern the Act’s implementation. I can tell the hon. Lady that we will launch that consultation tomorrow. I also welcome the opportunity of informing her and the House of how we intend to proceed. First, we are keeping the essential character of the previous approach, but trying to make it more streamlined and effective, and easier for communities to take up. The Act is about inspiring ideas from local communities and engaging with them in open, honest dialogue; it is not just for councils. It is not about councils saying to their communities, “We want to do this, do you agree?” but rather about councils asking their communities, “How would you like us to improve our area?”

As the hon. Lady said, the Communities and Local Government Secretary invited councils to begin that process on 15 December 2010, which was the second invitation under the Act. The first invitation was made back in 2008, which generated a range of ideas from around the country on how best to put power where it belongs, and how to put control into the hands of local people.

Many of those ideas—getting rid of the regional spatial strategies and giving local councils much more discretion on spending public money—were reflected in the actions that the Government took in our first months in office. The hon. Lady mentioned three examples from Brighton, which as one would expect contributed some of the more lively, ambitious and creative proposals. There was a recommendation to introduce feed-in tariffs, for which she and many constituents in Brighton have campaigned for many years, and now we have them, and it is possible to introduce business rate discounts under the Localism Bill. We looked very carefully at the possibility of allotments selling surplus food, and we have clarified—I hope to her constituents’ satisfaction—that those powers exist. If she finds any frustrations in exercising them, she has only to come to me, and we will make sure that anyone who doubts them is told what the reality is. I want the second invitation under the Act to be even more successful in provoking local debate, energy and imagination. It is a good opportunity to reinvigorate local democratic discussion between councils, community representatives and individual members of communities, and to bring forward great ideas and translate them into practice wherever possible.

I have always been clear that the best ideas are not to be found cooked up by Ministers and officials in Whitehall. They come from people in communities who have practical ambitions to make their communities better than they could otherwise be. One of the great things about the Act is that it sets a challenge for government to open itself up to ideas from communities in a way that in the past it has been too reluctant to do, and in that sense to turn government upside down, so that it can truthfully serve the interests of the people and follow their initiative, rather than governing them in the traditional way. The Act introduced the important concept that local and central Government should try to reach an agreement on what local people want. We are keeping this fundamental principle. We made it the centrepiece of the December invitation, and we will make it the centrepiece of the regulations when they are published in draft tomorrow.

The core principles behind the Act and our intentions remain the same. However, the difference I have set out is the first of several differences between the first invitation and the second, all of which are designed to improve the process. I have been grateful for the helpful suggestion that the Local Works coalition has made in helping us to frame these changes. There was some frustration, as reflected by the hon. Lady, about the fact that some of the processes were rather slow, bureaucratic and cumbersome. In the second invitation, we are seeking to be much more open, responsive and bureaucracy free. More action and less paper is what people want from us.

We want the second invitation to put people firmly in the driving seat. As the hon. Lady knows, under the first invitation, we saw only a fraction of the ideas that people put forward—those put forward by the selector for the Government to try to implement. This time, we have made a commitment to consider everything. We guarantee that we will try to help with any genuine problem raised. We do not want to filter out good ideas just for the sake of having a smaller number. Anyone can now e-mail one of the barrier-busters we have established in my Department with an example of how red tape or some other regulation or practice is preventing people from improving their area, and we will do our level best to resolve it.

Under the first invitation, people submitted their idea, but then, as the hon. Lady pointed out, had to wait a year or more for a decision to be taken, with no way of keeping track of progress. If people were concerned because they did not know where their idea was, they wondered whether it had been forgotten about altogether. This time, anyone who submits a request through the barrier-busting site will have a tracking number, like with an internet order, so that the person can tell where it is in the system, and they will have a dedicated person to call to check on progress.

The first invitation was time limited and burdensome on councils, but this time there is no deadline. Councils can ask for people’s ideas at any time and in any way they want. We will not presume to know better than them how they should talk to their local communities and whom to involve. The first invitation also set out a rather restrictive role for the selector—the body tasked to keep the Government honest in their handling of the Act. The selector was asked to reduce the number of suggestions and to prepare a pared down list. This time, however, we will give the selector as well as the people proposing the ideas more freedom than ever before. They will be able to choose which ideas to champion and will get involved only when they feel the need to. People will have the right directly to address the Government. They will also have help from an advisory panel to assist them. I am pleased to announce that it is our intention that Local Works and the National Association of Local Councils, both of which have been vital, will join the Local Government Association in providing a really top-notch advisory panel to the selector.

Because there might be times when, despite our best efforts, it will not be possible to reach agreement between Whitehall and councils on the way ahead, councils that go the extra mile—those that want to champion people’s ideas under the 2007 Act, but are told that we cannot remove the barrier stopping them—will get an extra route of appeal. We will reform the role of the selector, so that it can resubmit that request for help and require us to discuss that request with it before we come to a decision.

Finally, let me mention another difference that I regard as an improvement, and which I hope the hon. Lady will too. The first invitation, before the amendment, excluded parish councils. We are very keen indeed for parish and town councils, which represent their communities so successfully, to submit suggestions and proposals under the 2007 Act. That is one of the reasons why we are keen for the National Association of Local Councils to be included in the work of the selector. We will ensure that the duty to “try to reach agreement” with the selector will apply to requests from parish councils, not just higher or upper-tier authorities, as they are referred to.

All in all, the changes are designed to make the process easier, more open, less bureaucratic and more effective at making change happen—and, I hope, more inviting for people in communities up and down the country. With the barrier-busting services, the support and advice to which Ministers have access will now be increasingly available to people in communities. If we regard people in communities as having good ideas, it is incumbent on us to give them help and support in turning those ideas into reality, just as Ministers count on officials to help them turn their ideas into legislation. It has been my ambition in proposing these changes to turbo-charge the 2007 Act.

My final point is that, through the consultation, the Government are listening for further suggestions and changes that might be made, which we know are most likely to come from people in communities. The consultation on the regulations is a genuine consultation. If there are things that we have missed out or if suggestions are made during the consultation, we will do our level best to take them into account. The operation of the 2007 Act should go along with the spirit of the Act, and should be driven by communities.

I hope that those points will have brought the hon. Lady up to date on our intentions for the 2007 Act. I hope that she will welcome the fact that the publication that she was hoping for will happen tomorrow, in a written statement to the House. I would welcome the chance in future to discuss with her and hon. Members from up and down the country how we can put real power into the hands of local communities, and in so doing make our country and those communities better.

Question put and agreed to.