HAMPSHIRE COUNTY COUNCIL

Decision Report

1. Executive Summary

1.1. In May 2006 the County Council passed a Motion to support the original Sustainable Communities Bill. The Bill gained Royal Assent, becoming an Act, in October 2007. At the November 2008 County Council meeting, a notice of motion about the Act from Councillor Carew and amendments from Councillor Reid were considered. These motions can be found at Appendix B. Debate concluded that whilst the County Council supported the thrust of both the notice of motion and the amendments, detailed consideration of the matter be referred to the former Governance Committee in accordance with Standing Order 17.4. In accordance with Standing Order 17.5, Councillor Carew and Councillor Reid were invited to the Governance Committee's meeting on 26 March to explain the motion.

1.2. The purpose of this paper is to report back to the Council from the former Governance Committee on its recommendations regarding the notice of motion on the Sustainable Communities Act 2007.

2. About the Sustainable Communities Act 2007

2.1. The Sustainable Communities Act was introduced to Parliament as a Private Members Bill, sponsored in the House of Commons by Nick Hurd MP, receiving Royal Assent on 23 October 2007.

2.2. A key principle of the Sustainable Communities Act is that local people know best what needs to be done to promote the sustainability of their area. The aim of the Act is to bring communities and local government together to put a case to central government to enact change and involve local communities in decisions about spending in their area.

2.3. The central part of the Act allows county, district and unitary local authorities to submit proposals to government, upon invitation, for changes to existing national policy or legislation which will improve the sustainable economic, social or environmental well-being of the authority's area, or part of its area. The Schedule of the Act lists the things to which a local authority must have regard before making any proposals. Proposals may include the transfer of functions and funding. A regular cycle of invitations is expected.

2.4. There are criteria for the submission of proposals. For example, proposals must require central government action such as changing policy, regulations or even legislation. In other words, local government must not be able to carry out a proposal under existing powers, including the "Power of Well-being" under the Local Government Act 2000.

2.5. The Act specifies that should a council wish to put forward a proposal it will need to comply with the duty to establish, consult and reach agreement with a "representative community panel" of local people as described in Statutory Guidance. This Guidance permits the recognition of existing community panels.

2.6. The Act creates a duty on central government to produce local spending reports upon request which detail the amount of public money spent in each local authority area. The reports were required by law to be in place by 23 April 2009. The first Local Spending Reports were unfortunately brief and lacked crucial detail meaning that only limited detail has been available in this first round of applications.

2.7. The Local Government Association (LGA) has been designated a "Selector" role to filter workable proposals into a shortlist. The LGA will then negotiate and "reach agreement" with the Secretary of State on which proposals will proceed into action.

2.8. The Secretary of State issued an invitation, on 14 October 2008. All proposals must be submitted to the LGA by 31 July 2009.

3. Former Governance Committee Recommendations

3.1. The minutes of the former Governance Committee meeting may be viewed at: http://www.hants.gov.uk/decisions/decisions-docs/090326-govctt-R0407095904.html

3.2. The former Governance Committee had a wide-ranging discussion on the Sustainable Communities Act. The Committee were mindful of the opportunities and the wide range of issues and challenges which the Act presents.

3.3. The Committee resolved that it would recommend to the Council:

(a) That mechanisms be put in place to publicise the Act on Hantsweb;

(b) That a process for handling any proposals which relate to the transfer of any Hampshire County Council functions and funding should be developed;

(c) That Members of the County Council be invited to generate and flag ideas for proposals and to submit these to the Policy and Resources Select Committee;

(d) That the Committee seek to submit a proposal to the Local Government Association by 31 July 2009.

3.4. At this stage there is no information from Government about the frequency and timing of any future rounds of invitations for proposals. Accepting the principle of part (c) of the above recommendations the Policy and Resources Select Panel may be invited to be engaged in this work but clarification on their role will be required. Therefore County Council are asked to agree an amendment to this part of the recommendation which engages the Policy and Resources Select Committee in supporting the Executive in managing the progression of any County Council response to the Act.

3.5. An additional item was discussed regarding the Sustainable Communities Act. It was also resolved by the former Governance Committee that it would make an additional recommendation:

That it be a recommendation to the County Council that, in pursuit of the provisions of the Sustainable Communities Act 2007, the County Council should make a bid to the Local Government Association for the return of strategic planning powers to the County Council.

3.6. A Part II report for Member's information on this matter sets out this proposal in detail. The decision to submit proposals under the Sustainable Communities Act 2007 rests with the Executive. County Council is asked to note that this matter has, therefore, been referred to Cabinet for consideration.

4. Recommendation(s)

4.1. In considering the former Governance Committee's recommendations and the additional information at paragraphs 4.4 and 4.6 The County Council is invited:

a) To adopt the former Governance Committee's recommendations:

(a) That mechanisms be put in place to publicise the Act on Hantsweb;

(b) That a process for handling any proposals which relate to the transfer of any Hampshire County Council functions and funding should be developed;

b) To agree that Members of the County Council be invited to generate and flag ideas for proposals and that the Policy and Resources Select Committee be engaged in supporting the Executive to manage the progression of the County Council's responses to the Act; and

c) Note that the decision to submit a proposal to the Local Government Association by 31 July 2009 rests with Cabinet.

CORPORATE OR LEGAL INFORMATION:

Links to the Corporate Strategy

Other Significant Links

Notices of Motion to the County Council meeting on 20 November 2008

The following is Councillor Carew's notice of motion:

That Hampshire County Council

(i) expresses its concern at the decline of local services and facilities, local economies and local communities;

(ii) notes that this combination of factors increases people's feelings of exclusion and lack of involvement; and

(iii) further notes that local authorities and their communities know best on the solutions to local problems and so should determine how to promote thriving communities; and so

(iv) supports the bottom up process in the Sustainable Communities Act designed to allow local authorities and their communities to drive the help that central government gives in reversing community decline and promoting thriving, sustainable communities;

(v) notes that the Act became law in October 2007 with full cross party support and that this was a result of 5 year campaign run by a coalition of over 90 national citizens organisations called Local Works;

(vi) notes that the Act gives local authorities the power to

· make proposals to government on the action government must take to reverse community decline and promote sustainable communities, and

· argue for a transfer of public money and function from central to local control;

(vii) notes that the Act defines the sustainability of local communities broadly, that definition having the 4 aspects of

· the improvement of the local economy,

· protection of the environment,

· promotion of social inclusion, and

· participation in civic and political activity;

(viii) notes that the Local Works campaign give a number of reasons for why a local authority should choose to use the Act, those reasons being

1. Assistance from government - Community decline is happening everywhere and local authorities are not able to prevent it on their own. They need government help. This Act gives government a legal duty 'to assist local authorities in promoting the sustainability of local communities'. So by `opting in' local authorities are, in fact, signing up to receive that 'assistance'.

2. Power to determine that assistance - The Act also gives local authorities (and their representative body, the Local Government Association) real power to determine the nature of the assistance that they receive from government, as explained more fully in our campaign broadsheet on implementing the Act (contact us for free copies).

3. Strength in numbers - By opting in, local authorities can act in unison to put in proposals to government supported by their colleagues elsewhere. Joint suggestions by many authorities will make it even harder for the government to refuse to act on suggestions made by local authorities.

4. Transferring functions and monies from central to local control - The Act also enables local authorities - and thus local authorities acting together - to request the transfer of functions from government or government agencies to themselves. Because decisions on these requests must be made by the LGA and the Secretary of State trying to reach agreement (i.e. in co-operation), this can be used to regain from central government control of many powers and spending that affect local areas.

5. Access to Central Spending Accounts Information - The requirement in the Act for the government to `open the books' will mean that local authorities will know just how much extra money they can access if they push for a transfer of functions.

6. Democratic citizen involvement - All politicians (and many local authority officers) talk a lot about lack of public involvement in democracy. The recent Power report showed that the more people think that their involvement matters, the more they are likely to get involved. The very 'hassle' required by this Act (reaching agreement with - not consulting - citizens' panels) empowers citizens. Local authorities may well consider that this is a way of increasing citizen involvement; and

(ix) resolves, when invited to by central government in 2008, to use the Act by preparing and submitting proposals on how central government can help; and

(x) further resolves to

· to inform the local media of this decision;

· to write to local MPs, informing them of this decision; and

· to write to Local Works (at Local Works, c/o Unlock Democracy, 6 Cynthia St, London N1 9JF) informing them of their resolution to use the Act.

Councillor Reid submitted the following amendments, highlighted in bold type:

"That Hampshire County Council renews its two-year old endorsement of the Sustainable Communities Bill, now an Act. In so doing the Council:

i. reaffirms its commitment to maintaining high standard local services and facilities, local economies and local communities

ii. confirms that its reasons for doing so include, inter alia, a wish to encourage feelings of wellbeing, inclusion and involvement on the part of the people of Hampshire

iii. further notes that democratically elected and accountable local authorities and their communities know best on the solutions to local problems and so should determine how to promote thriving communities, and so

iv. supports the bottom up process described in the Sustainable Communities Act, designed to allow local authorities and their communities to drive the help that central government gives in encouraging and promoting thriving, sustainable communities

v. notes that the Act became law in October 2007 with cross-party support and that this was a result of a 5 year campaign run by a coalition of over 90 national citizens' organisations called Local Works;

vi. notes that the Act gives local authorities the power to make proposals to government on the action government must take to avoid community decline and promote sustainable communities argue for a transfer of public money and function from central to local control;

vii. notes that the Act defines the sustainability of local communities broadly, that definition having the 4 aspects of:

· the improvement of the local economy

· protecting of the environment

· promotion of social inclusion, and

· participation in civic and political activity

viii. notes that the Local Works campaign gives a number of reasons why a local authority should choose to use the Act, those reasons being:

1.   Assistance from government - Community decline is a risk everywhere and local authorities are not able to prevent it on their own. They need government help. This Act gives Government a legal duty `to assist local authorities in promoting the sustainability of local communities'. So by `opting in' local authorities are, in fact, signing up to receive that `assistance'

2.   Power to determine that assistance. The Act gives local authorities (and their representative body, the Local Government Association) real power to determine the nature of the assistance that they receive from government, as explained more fully in the Local Works Campaign broadsheet on implementing the Act

3.   Strength in Numbers - by opting in, local authorities can act in unison to put in proposals to government supported by their colleagues elsewhere. Joint suggestions by many authorities will make it even harder for the government to refuse to act on suggestions made by local authorities

4.   Transferring functions and monies from central to local control - the Act also enables local authorities - and thus authorities acting together - to request the transfer of functions from government or government agencies to themselves. Because decisions on these requests must be made by the LGA and the Secretary of State trying to reach agreement (ie in co-operation), this can be used to regain from central government control of many powers and spending that affect local areas

5.   Access to Central Spending Accounts Information - The requirement in the Act for the government to `open the books' will mean that local authorities will know how much extra money they can access if they push for a transfer of functions.

6.   Democratic citizen involvement - Politicians (and officers) value public involvement in democracy. The recent Power report concluded that the more people believe that their involvement matters, the more likely they are to get involved. The very `hassle' required by this Act (reaching agreement with - not just consulting - citizens' panels) empowers citizens. Local authorities may well consider that this is a way of increasing citizen involvement; and

therefore Hampshire County Council resolves

ix. when invited to by central government in 2008, to use the Act by preparing and submitting proposals on how central government can help,

that it will, in parallel, continue its calls for fairer treatment for Hampshire with regard to Revenue Support Grant settlements, at a time when there are increasing pressures on local services such as adult social care

that it will, in parallel, continue to highlight the dangers to local communities in Hampshire represented by the Government's `top-down' plans to over-develop this part of the United Kingdom, and

x. further resolves to:

· inform the local media of this decision

· write to local MPs and Nick Hurd MP (the Act's sponsor), informing them of this decision and write to Local Works (at Local Works, c/o Unlock Democracy, 6 Cynthia St, London N1 9JF) informing them of its resolution to use the Act."