MAKE A WISH - THE SUSTAINABLE COMMUNITIES ACT
The sustainability of any community depends on a strong economy, good planning and provision for social needs, addressing the environmental impact, and a sense of community pride and inclusion often from direct participation in local affairs. Councils already have many good plans to promote sustainability which could be better realised by central government giving more help.
The Sustainable Communities Act, launched in 2008, gives central government a legal duty to assist local councils in making their communities more sustainable.
Each year local councils will be able to submit proposals setting out how government should help them. Proposals must require action from national government and not be things that councils already have the power to do.
This year the deadline for submitting proposals is 31 July.
What types of proposals will be considered?
Proposals can be things for government to do to reverse community decline and/or things to protect and further improve communities that are already thriving; anything, in fact, that requires a change at a national level (such as a change in legislation, a transfer of responsibilities from one public body to another, a new national policy or strengthening of existing policy) and can be shown to have the support of, and increase the sustainability of, your local community.
Where a successful case is made for a transfer of responsibilities, from one public body to another, relevant budgets would transfer across at the same time. However, the Government has made it clear that no extra money will be available.
Proposals need to fall within one or more of the four aspects of sustainability covered by the Act:
Economic
For example:-
Protecting local jobs and services by taking steps to keep post offices open.
Promoting local food sources by giving business rate relief to those businesses that earn 50% of their turnover from selling local food and goods.
Social
For example:-
Tackling unemployment by transferring responsibility for adult skills, training and apprenticeships from government quangos to councils.
Giving councils powers to levy non-domestic rates on the car parking spaces of out of town superstores, and that the revenue be held locally by councils and spent on locally decided priorities.
Environmental
For example:-
Allowing councils to increase local recycling and/or the amount of recycling that is processed locally.
Democratic involvement
For example:-
Promoting local people participating in local decision making.
Government will have the final say about which proposals from right aross the country to support.