Sustainable Communities Act: the key that finally unlocks real local potential?
On 7 October 2008, the New Local Government Network (NLGN) published a report which highlights the fact that the Sustainable Communities Act 2007 provides local authorities with considerable new powers and opportunities, enabling them to do more to drive government policy, in particular powers that extend their ability to tackle local economic, social and environmental sustainability issues.
The report urges local authorities to use the Act to take forward a variety of new proposals including:
- Allowing primary care trusts (PCTs) and local authorities to appoint joint posts on the senior management team when a PCT struggles to meet its financial targets and performance objectives;
- Encouraging local branches of national public services, when working in a partnership through a local area agreement, to adapt local rules for operational management procedures without waiting for prior approval from regional or national offices;
- Enabling council leaders to assume responsibility for local public transport in their specific localities using powers currently vested with unelected Traffic Commissioners.
Sustainable Communities Act: the key that finally unlocks real local potential? (PDF)
