14 January 2010, 10/07
Government considers West Lancs local
solutions
Three ideas for improving local communities suggested by
residents from West Lancashire are now being considered for
implementation at a national level.
The West Lancs ideas, which are also listed on the website
at www.westlancs.gov.uk/yourviews,
are:
1. Re-direction of funding for training contracts to local
authorities, to ensure locality-specific training needs can be
addressed and enable the establishment of practical
learning/training and social enterprise business hubs
2. Local authorities to keep a greater proportion of Right
to Buy receipts to enable house building and estate remodelling
3. Lobbying for changes to the Treaty of Rome to encourage
local economic stimulus
Local people were invited to put forward suggestions in May when
West Lancs decided to take part in a new national scheme under
the Sustainable Communities Act. The ideas were assessed in June by
a representative panel drawn from the local community and eight
proposals were recommended and subsequently endorsed by full
Council.
Three proposals then made it through a selection process
which saw the Local Government Association review 301 proposals
from over 100 councils before submitting a shortlist to the
Government for consideration.
The Secretary of State, John Denham, will
now agree with the Local Government Association which, if any, of
the ideas will be implemented. It is hoped that a final decision
will be made by Easter recess. If taken forward, the ideas will
impact across the country and benefit all local communities.
Cllr Adrian Owens, deputy leader of the Council, said: “I was
delighted by the initial response to this scheme. When the Council
chose to take part in this new initiative we did so because we know
that communities often generate innovative ideas for improvements
in their areas, but can then find their ideas can’t go ahead unless
changes are made at a national level. The fact that three of the
West Lancs proposals have made it to the national shortlist shows
that we were right to begin the process. There are some excellent
ideas on the national shortlist. We are hopeful that ours will be
amongst those agreed by the Secretary of State and therefore
benefit not only West Lancashire, but the whole country. The
Council fully supports the proposals and I would like to again
thank everyone who either submitted a proposal or was directly
involved in the panel process.”
Suggestions had to meet criteria
set by Government which meant that they had to:
- be about making changes that the local council or other local
bodies could not currently do and which needed action by
central government before they could be made to happen, for example
a change in legislation; a transfer of responsibilities from one
public body to another; or a new national policy.
- be able to demonstrate that they promoted the sustainability of
local communities in relation to encouraging improvement
in:
– economic well-being
– social well-being
– environmental well-being; or
– participation in civic and political activity.
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