Website of the UK government

The main elements of the Bill

The main elements of the Bill are:

• mpowering communities and individuals by involving them in the design and delivery of local public services and other measures designed to promote local democracy and larger numbers of active citizens, possibly including giving individuals a right of response from their local authority to local petitions
• extending the powers of the new social housing regulator, to apply to local authority landlords (subject to the new regulator being established by the Housing and Regeneration Bill currently being considered by Parliament)
• implementing recommendations from the review of sub-national economic development and regeneration to streamline regional governance, integrate Regional Economic and Spatial Strategies, make Regional Development Agencies (RDAs) statutory  planning bodies and enable RDAs to delegate their single pot funding to local authorities where appropriate
• strengthening the role of local authorities in promoting and delivering economic development, including, subject to consultation,  implementing a proposed new statutory duty on local authorities to assess local economic conditions, and supporting greater collaboration between local authorities in this area, including, subject to consultation, the potential to develop statutory partnerships
• implementing recommendations from Lord Sharman’s report to give the Audit Commission a power to appoint an auditor to certain local government entities, and to issue a public interest report about those entities if appropriate
• improving the operation of construction contracts