CAMRA urges councils to help save communities
14 October, 2008
New Sustainable Communities Act will give councils more influence on central government decision-making
The Campaign for Real Ale (CAMRA) is leading the charge in urging councils to use new laws to help save local services, such as pubs.
As part of a national coalition of organisations, CAMRA has written to every council in England asking them to opt-in to the Sustainable Communities Act.
Hazel Blears, Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, is today also due to invite councils to ‘opt in’ to the new law.
Under the Act, councils are being given more power to influence central government decision-making – while the government now has a legal duty to ‘assist local authorities in promoting the sustainability of local communities’.
But local authorities need to opt in to the Act when invited to by the government in order to make full use of it.
Mike Benner, CAMRA’s chief executive, said: “The Sustainable Communities Act could not have come at a more crucial time. The global economic downturn will hit pubs and brewers hard and also have a huge impact on our local communities.
“If local communities are to weather this storm, they will need far more autonomy than they currently have. Local people are the experts on the problems of their areas and the solutions to them. Yet currently they are at the complete mercy of the global stock exchange. The Sustainable Communities Act will give real power to local people to protect and revive their areas."