Last chance to add voice to Sustainable Communities Bill

One hurdle left to get this important Bill through - 15th June - get letters out to MPs, Minister Phil Woolas and Gordon Brown along the lines of the letter below - our local MP David Drew has been great on this one and deserves massive credit for continuing to work on this - yes it has cross-party support incl Green MEP Caroline Lucas but there are fears it could still fall at the last minute.

I've written before on this blog about why this needs support - see more re the national campaign at:
http://www.localworks.org/

Gordon Brown, Houses of Parliament, London

Dear Mr Brown
Sustainable Communities Bill

As our future Prime Minister please ensure that the government stands by the assurances given by Minister Phil Woolas MP during the Sustainable Communities Bill committee stage that the government will support the Bill and not attempt to dilute it when it goes before the House for its Report and third reading on 15th June.

It seems to us that this Bill is very much in line with your personal vision of devolving power from the Centre which you expressed in your Labour Party Conference speech in 2006 when you said; “People and communities should now take power from the state and that means a reinvention of the way we govern: the active citizen, the empowered community, open enabling government…local councils, not Whitehall, should have more power over things that matter to their community.”

You have made restoring trust a big issue in your Leadership campaign: The Sustainable Communities Bill offers a real opportunity to achieve this by actively engaging people in the local democratic process. It provides a mechanism for truly devolving power and building Sustainable Communities.

Phil Woolas made very positive comments about the Bill, and the mechanisms in it, in Committee. If, following these, the government tries to water down the Bill on 15th June then it will be no surprise if many people continue to distrust politicians. So, please ensure that the Sustainable Communities Bill is not watered down from being a Bill in which councils and communities, to use Phil Woolas’s words, ‘determine’ the policies, to one in which they are merely ‘consulted’ and all the decisions are taken centrally in Whitehall.

Yours sincerely