Clause 1
Sustainable Communities Bill
10:00 am
David Drew (Stroud, Labour)
I beg to move amendment No. 22, in clause 1, page 1, leave out lines 6 to 13 and insert
‘encouraging the improvement of the economic, social or environmental well-being of an area.
(2A) In this section “social well-being” includes participation in civic and political activity.’.
What a delight it is to serve under your chairmanship, Mr. Bercow. We may actually make some progress today, so we hope that there will be two good things in the day.
I do not intend to take much time, but it is fair to say that the clause needs rewording to clarify the issue of sustainability and, more particularly, to get the Bill off on the right footing. I shall speak to amendment No. 22, but amendments Nos. 23 and 24 are consequential to it so that we can have a reworked clause 1 with tightened-up wording that makes sense of what we are trying to do.
The amendment would allow the Bill to fit in neatly with section 4(1) of the Local Government Act 2000, which states:
“Every local authority must prepare a strategy (referred to in this section as a community strategy) for promoting or improving the economic, social and environmental well-being of their area and contributing to the achievement of sustainable development in the United Kingdom.”
So we already have legislation that refers to sustainable development, and the amendment is intended to tie this important Bill in with that. It would require the Secretary of State to help local authorities along the lines that they are hopefully already trying to pursue in economic, social and environmental well-being. It summarises and improves on the existing wording, and it simplifies it, as I always try to do.
It is essential that we include in the provisions civic and political activity. Such activity is referred to in the amendment, which makes it clear that it should be included in an existing definition of sustainable development and sustainable communities. I have the delight of moving amendment No. 22; I shall come back to amendments Nos. 23 and 24. They are entirely consequential on the attempt to simplify and clarify the Bill and give it some oomph.