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Change My Localism Bill

12 May 2011

Ahead of the big debate on the Localism Bill (Tuesday, 17th May), proposed amendments have been tabled by Barbara Keeley MP (Shadow DCLG MInister and North West MP), and others including Roberta Blackman-Woods MP (Shadow Civil Society Ministers).

They include a number of proposals that VSNW and others (including 1NW and NWEL) in the voluntary and community sector have been campaigning for:

 

Community Right to Challenge
Proposed changes include expanded council consideration of the context and implications of a challenge as part of  moving towards the tendering process. These include thinking about:

• the *local* social, environmental, and economic impact
• plus equality impact considerations
• the impact on vulnerable groups

 

Planning and the environmental considerations
Scaling back on some of the planning activities that would empower loudest voices most, the proposals...

• emphasise working with parish councils around planning (unclear what this would mean in urban areas)
• linking local planning to: 
  • the UK Sustainabe Development Strategy (ie planning in the context of agreed social and environmental as well as economic priorities)
  • other national and international commitments
  • consideration of a local 'Diverse Retail Scheme' (ie not just malls galore)

 

Homelessness
Labour, I think, are also proposing a tempered erosion (ie a moderated version of the what's currently in the Bill) to the homelessness duty of local councils

These and other amendments put forward by Barbara Keeley MP (Shadow Minister to Eric Pickles), Roberta Blackman-Woods MP (Shadow Civil Society Minister) and other Labour MPs are available here:
Proposed amendments to the Localism Bill

NB: Tomorrow (frequently the day when MPs hold their open door surgeries in order to hear from their constituents) may be the last chance to talk to your MP about the Localism Bill.

Please use this opportunitiy to meet and talk to your MP about this Bill and about how "localism" should develop.

You may wish to use the introductory material that we have published and sent to NW MPs. Getting the Localism Bill Right highlights six areas of the Bill (it's big) and proposes six principles for the future of localism. 

 

Key links:

• VSNW's listing of Localism Resources
• VSNW's outline of the implications of Localism on equality
• Recent New Start Article, All Remaining Unequal on Government Policy and Equality (written using material drawn from the NW Infrastructure Partnership's 'Equality, Big Society and Localism' research project (see Year 2)
• "My Localism Bill" and VSNW's Getting the Localism Bill Right
• NAVCA / Real Power for Communties' (RP4C's) Briefing on the Localism Bill (May 2011) - a good summary of principles and values that expands on VSNW's Getting the Localism Bill Right. **A VSNW RECOMMENDED READ**

 

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