The radical and controversial Localism Bill has rarely been out of the headlines since it was published in mid-December.
Even last night (17 January), Labour MPs launched a motion to halt the Bill’s parliamentary progress. The motion was inevitably defeated and the Bill has now passed to the Committee Stage in the House of Commons – but the Bill is causing quite a stir and splitting opinions everywhere.
Local Government and Communities Secretary Eric Pickles has called the Bill “a triumph for democracy over bureaucracy”, but, on the opposition benches, his opposite number Caroline Flint calls it a “massive missed opportunity.”
Opinion is certainly divided, inside and outside of Parliament.
Matthew Arnold & Baldwin’s head of Real Estate, David Marsden, has written extensively about the controversy surrounding the abolition of the Regional Strategies and the Bill’s implications for planning.
For those people who are wondering what all the fuss is about, the Department for Communities and Local Government has now published a useful plain-English guidance to the Bill, which summarises all of the main measures proposed in it under the following headings:
1. New freedoms and flexibilities for local government;
2. New rights and powers for communities and individuals;
3. Reform to make the planning system more democratic and more effective;
4. Reform to ensure that decisions about housing are taken locally; and
5. The overall effect of the Bill
The guide translates the often complex legal language used in the Bill, so that everyone (and not just lawyers) can understand what the Bill proposes.
Now, that should be welcomed by everyone.
