Ideas accepted under SCA
Author: Local Government Chronicle |
Pubs, post offices and gardeners are among those who will benefit from measures the government has agreed to take forward in response to the first round of the Sustainable Communities Act.
The act allowed councils and community groups to make proposals for new powers.
Some 300 ideas were then considered by the Local Government Association, which chose those to put forward to government. Ministers must either accept proposals or state why they are rejected.
Communities and local government secretary John Denham said the 10 had been chosen because they offered “the best potential to bring real benefits to the community”.
Measures
* Redbridge LBC: Relaxation of rules on lighting of road signs to help cut installation and maintenance costs, energy consumption and light pollution.
* Islington LBC: To make it compulsory for owners of business premises empty for more than six months to talk to councils about possibility of community use.
* South Hams DC and Wirral MBC: Right for communities to buy assets that are for sale to develop opportunities for community benefit.
* Brighton and Hove City Council: Allow gardeners to sell surplus produce to local markets.
* Darlington BC, Newcastle City Council and Ryedale DC: To prevent pub companies from placing restrictive covenants that prevent premises continuing as pubs when they are sold.
* Kettering BC and Redcar and Cleveland BC: power for councils to employ single teams of wardens to deal with all civil enforcement issues.
* KentCC: Funds to build a 3,000-space lorry park when police implement ‘Operation Stack’ to close the M20 during congestion at ports.
* Herefordshire Council and West Devon BC: A wider role for local Post Offices including provision of banking and financial services.
* Wiltshire Council: Government support for the Sustainable Communities (Amendment) Bill, which would ensure that further bidding rounds are held for councils to put ideas forward.
* The tenth idea, which came from several councils is for the government to look at ways to encourage the development of renewable energy within communities.
A spokesman for the campaign group Unlock Democracy, which worked with Conservative MP Nick Hurd to pilot the original bill through parliament, said: “This is a first step and there are still many ideas for the government to consider.”