Dear Government Minister,
We write to ask you to please support the Sustainable Communities Act Amendment Bill. The Bill will improve the original Sustainable Communities Act 2007 that has already seen one hundred councils, and their citizens – including many of our members – put forward three hundred ideas on how to create and protect vibrant communities. This is exciting and inspiring given people’s current levels of disengagement and disillusionment with politics.
The Sustainable Communities Act Amendment Bill will do the following things:
1. Create a rolling programme for proposals so that more councils and citizens can be involved in the Act’s process. There is great public interest in this.
2. Involve Parish and Town Councils by formally including them in the process when their Local Authorities choose to use the Act and by also allowing them to put forward suggestions for government action via their County Associations. Very many Parish and Town Councils were involved in the campaign for the Act but are now becoming disillusioned that they have been omitted from the process. The new Bill will prevent that.
3. Involve citizens further by empowering them to petition their Local Authorities to use the Act. Many citizens have been unhappy about the fact that they can only be involved in the Act if their Local Authority chooses to be. The Bill will give them the power to petition their Local Authorities to get involved, so that residents in their areas can too. Petitioning is already government policy.
4. Proper publishing of the Local Spending Reports (LSRs). The former Minister (Phil Woolas) said the LSRs would require government to publish a local breakdown of spending and proposed spending by all public bodies, so people can see how their money is spent. But the LSRs currently contain information mostly about local government bodies. The new Bill would put this right.
The Bill would increase the involvement of people in democracy and help create sustainable communities. All parties have expressed support for these ideas.
Please, as a Minister, urge your government and the relevant Cabinet Committees to:
• support this Bill and help ensure it becomes law in this Parliamentary Session, and
• if required, to agree to give the Bill extra time or agree to ways in which to speed up the procedure in this short session.
Yours sincerely
Mervyn Kohler, Special Advisor Age Concern and Help the Aged
Mike Jeram, National Secretary, UNISON
Hugh Lanning, Deputy General Secretary, Public and Commercial Services Union
Billy Hayes, General Secretary, Communication Workers Union
Neal Lawson, Chair, Compass
Stuart Etherington, Chief Executive, National Council for Voluntary Organisations
Ruth Bond, Chair, National Federation of Women’s Institutes
Andrew Pakes, Co-Chair, Socialist Environment and Resources
Jessica Asato, Acting Director, Progress
Ian Johnston, President, Police Superintendents’ Association
Paul McKeever, Chairman, Police Federation of England and Wales
Gemma Bradshaw, Head of Local Sustainability, Local Government Information Unit
Andy Atkins, Executive Director, Friends of the Earth
Doug Parr, Policy Director, Greenpeace UK
John Wright, National Chairman, Federation of Small Businesses
John Findlay, Chief Executive, National Association of Local Councils
Mike Benner, Chief Executive, CAMRA – the Campaign for Real Ale
Dr Muhammad Abdul Bari, Secretary General, Muslim Council of Britain
Dot Gibson, General Secretary, National Pensioners’ Convention
Suleman Khonat, President, National Federation of Retail Newsagents
Michael Gelling, Chair, Tenants and Residents Organisations of England
Sue Holden, Chief Executive, Woodland Trust
George Thomson, General Secretary, National Federation of SubPosmasters
Stephen Joseph, Chief Executive, Campaign for Better Transport
Peter Facey, Director, Unlock Democracy
Simon Hart, Chief Executive, Countryside Alliance
Tony Armstrong, Executive Director, Living Streets
Nick Randle, Chief Executive, Society of Local Council Clerks
James Lowman, Chief Executive, Association of Convenience Stores
Debbie Tripley, Chief Executive, Environmental Law Foundation
Judy Ling Wong, Chief Executive, Black Environment Network
Adrian Gane, Director General, Country Land and Business Association
Stewart Wallis, Executive Director, new economics foundation
Shaun Spiers, Chief Executive, Campaign for the Protection of Rural England
John Turk, Chief Executive, National Pharmacy Association
Julian Grocock, Chief Executive, SIBA – the Society of Independent Brewers.