Sustainable Communities Act 2007 (Amendment) Bill

Notwithstanding the continual enthusiasm of Braintree district council, I accept my hon. Friend's point that we need to build on the enthusiasm that the original Act kicked off. No doubt people will be enthused even more by this amending Bill. Today's Bill enables the Secretary of State to publish regulations on the proposals embedded in the 2007 Act. That includes such prescriptive measures as engagement with parish and town councils, petitions and the form, content and timing of proposals. The former is particularly pertinent to my constituency of Braintree, which has a number of excellent and active parish and town councils. Following the initial hype and fervour around the 2007 Act, a few town and parish councils have voiced disillusionment. Although the LGA has found that in a number of cases the parish or town council is acting as the driving force behind the proposal, some, after being heavily involved in the long campaign to bring the initial Act to fruition, are feeling neglected and omitted from the process of decision making and the provisions of the Act. Given the excellent organisational structures of our parish and town councils and their ability to canvass and reflect local opinion, I agree with the principle, enshrined in today's Bill, that they could be given a more explicit and mandatory role in the chain of local decision making. The citizens' panels that the Act requires, to reach out to and involve electors in the ideas of action to put to the Secretary of State, provide an obvious means through which to insert the representation of parish and town councils. As Great Bardfield and Finchingfield parish councils point out, powers that have already devolved down to parish councils have proved to be cost-effective and to work well. However, I recognise the LGA's concern that that would risk establishing a parallel Sustainable Communities Act-lite process whereby the consultation requirements are simply that only the members of parish or town councils are heard. That, of course, would be inimical to the spirit of local democracy. A more durable solution may be to ensure the representation of such councils on the citizens' panels while still providing scope for the voices of those not involved with such councils. Given the current levels of disillusionment—