Localism Act 2011

<p>The Bill will devolve greater powers to councils and neighbourhoods and give local communities more control over housing and planning decisions.</p><p><strong>Key areas</strong></p><p>The provisions relating to councils include:</p><ul><li>giving councils a general power of competence</li><li>allowing councils to choose to return to the committee system of governance and allowing for referendums for elected mayors in certain authorities</li><li>abolishing the Standards Board regime and the model code of conduct, and introducing local accountability and a criminal offence of deliberate failure to declare a personal interest in a matter</li><li>giving residents the power to instigate local referendums on any local issue and the power to veto excessive council tax increases</li><li>allowing councils more discretion over business rate relief</li><li>providing new powers to help save local facilities and services threatened with closure, and giving voluntary and community groups the right to challenge local authorities over their services.</li></ul><p>The housing provisions will</p><ul><li>abolish the requirement to have a Home Information Pack</li><li>reform the Housing Revenue Account system</li><li>provide for a new form of flexible tenure for social housing tenants</li><li>allow local authorities to discharge their duties to homeless people by using private rented accommodation</li><li>give local authorities the power to limit who can apply for social housing within their areas</li><li>abolish the Tenant Services Authority and provides for a transfer of functions to the Homes and Communities Agency</li><li>amend the way in which a social tenant can make a complaint about their landlord</li><li>improve the ability of social tenants to move to different areas.</li></ul><p>The planning and regeneration provisions will</p><ul><li>abolish Regional Spatial Strategies</li><li>abolish the Infrastructure Planning Commission and return to a position where the Secretary of State takes the final decision on major infrastructure proposals of national importance</li><li>amend the Community Infrastructure Levy, which allows councils to charge developers to pay for infrastructure. Some of the revenue will be available for the local community</li><li>provide for neighbourhood plans, which would be approved if they received 50% of the votes cast in a referendum</li><li>provide for neighbourhood development orders to allow communities to approve development without requiring normal planning consent</li><li>give new housing and regeneration powers to the Greater London Authority, while abolishing the London Development Agency.<br></li></ul>