A shift in power?

Jamie Carpenter, Regeneration & Renewal, 18 July 2008

Coummunity spirtr: Hazel Blears says her new proposals will put local people in control

According to communities secretary Hazel Blears, the proposals contained in last week's community empowerment white paper will deliver power to communities and individuals. The document announces a £70 million fund to boost community enterprise and includes proposals to enable residents to use petitions to force issues on to councils' agendas (R&R, 11 July, p1). "The white paper provides real and practical ways to put communities in control, so they can have a real say," Blears said as she launched the plans.

The white paper's proposals are the latest in a succession of plans announced by the Government since the start of 2005, when John Prescott published a consultation on measures to hand over the partial control of public services to neighbourhood-based organisations (R&R, 4 February 2005, p4). Central to his plans was the notion of a "neighbourhood charter", under which town halls could agree to devolve budgets to communities and give communities ownership of local assets. "We want to offer new opportunities for neighbourhoods everywhere," Prescott said at the time.

Community empowerment expert Dr Graham Gardner, who has done research for the Government on town councils, says the measures in last week's white paper are a "far cry" from the original idea of Prescott's neighbourhood charter proposal, which he says would have made councils more accountable to communities. "The measures in the white paper are a heavily watered down version of what was proposed previously," he says.

But Toby Blume, chief executive of umbrella body Urban Forum, says that the white paper will put the idea of neighbourhood charters back on the agenda. He says that the neighbourhood charter plans have moved forward since the publication of Prescott's plan at the Communities Summit in Manchester in 2005. The charters were mentioned in the 2006 local government white paper and are now being piloted in 12 areas, Blume points out. "They have dropped off the radar a bit, but they never disappeared," he says.

Last week's white paper came as foreign secretary David Miliband warned the Government against losing momentum in its drive for double devolution to town halls and neighbourhoods - a concept he had championed during his brief stint as communities minister between May 2005 and May 2006 (R&R, 11 July, p2). Gardner says that the proposals in Blears' white paper fall short of achieving this goal. "I don't believe it amounts to double devolution," he says. "What it's really about is trying to build better bridges between local authorities and the people they represent." But Blume disagrees. "The only thing that has changed is the language," he says. "I don't think that the sentiment has changed." Blume adds that Blears has taken the concept of double devolution further than Miliband by committing to participatory budgeting: last week's white paper says that the Government will shortly publish a national strategy on plans to introduce community kitties in every council area by 2012.

However, other previously floated concepts have fallen by the wayside. In 2005, Miliband began examining whether Scots-style community right-to-buy legislation giving English communities the first option on any sale of local public or private assets should be introduced. But Ruth Kelly, who was appointed communities secretary in 2006, was less enthusiastic about the plans. A report commissioned by Kelly into community asset ownership, carried out by Barry Quirk, chief executive of the London Borough of Lewisham, stopped short of recommending the introduction of the Scots-style legislation (R&R, 18 May 2007, p2). A follow-up report by Quirk, to be published this autumn, will deliver a final verdict. "Successive people in Government have said: 'No, we don't want to do that'," says Steve Wyler, director of umbrella body the Development Trusts Association.

Nevertheless, Wyler believes that the white paper shows progress. "They are following through with some determination some of the things they have been talking about for the last two or three years," he says.

During his address to the Communities Summit in 2005, former Prime Minister Tony Blair used the term "communities in control" - the title of Blears' white paper. Wyler says that when the then regeneration minister Jeff Rooker was asked at a session the following morning what putting communities in control meant in practice, he claimed that the phrase used by Blair was incorrect: Rooker said that what Blair actually meant was that communities would be at the heart of government policy. Wyler believes that more than three-and-a-half years on, the publication of a white paper called Communities in Control represents progress. "To see a white paper using that term so directly shows that things have moved forward," he says.

- Communities in Control is available via www.regen.net/doc

HOW HAVE COMMUNITY-RELATED POLICIES FARED?

Original policy announcement

- In January 2005, John Prescott launched a consultation on neighbourhood charters: agreements potentially giving communities control over their own budgets.

- In September 2005, it emerged that a Whitehall team was examining introducing Scots-style community right-to-buy legislation to England.

- The 2006 local government white paper proposes a "community call for action", to allow residents to put issues on councils' agendas.

What happened next?

- The 2006 local government white paper included the proposals. Twelve pilot schemes were subsequently launched and are still in operation.

- In May 2007, a review commissioned by the then communities secretary Ruth Kelly stops short of calling for the legislation.

- In March 2007, the Government is accused of weakening the plans so calls for action could only be taken by councillors on issues affecting their wards.

What does the white paper say?

- Makes no reference to neighbourhood charters, but says that town halls could involve residents in commissioning services through "neighbourhood contracts".

- Makes no reference to right-to-buy, but includes a £70 million fund for community enterprises and says a new asset transfer unit will be set up.

- Says councils will have a new duty to respond to petitions. These could call for the transfer of ownership of property to the community.