Will the ‘English Devolution and Community Empowerment Bill’ deliver real community power?

The English Devolution and Community Empowerment Bill, which was laid before parliament on 10th July, represents an important but incomplete step forward for community power.

A landmark Community Right to Buy

The introduction of a legal Community Right to Buy is a landmark moment. Our campaign has long advocated for communities to have the chance to take ownership of the places they love — community centres, sports grounds, pubs, parks — and make them work for local people. The government deserves to be applauded for enacting this change, and for extending the period which community groups will have to raise the capital required to purchase those buildings and spaces to twelve months.

Now, it needs to ensure that organisations and groups in every community will be able to access the support and resources needed to make effective use of this critical new right.

New neighbourhood-level governance bodies

Everyone in the campaign welcomes the news that the Bill will create a duty on local authorities to put in place new governance arrangements at the neighbourhood level. This is a big and important move by the government – one which could give local people a real say over the issues affecting their places. But these arrangements must be shaped to genuinely empower local people and communities, rather than to generate new layers of bureaucracy and box-ticking.

New neighbourhood-level governance arrangements need to:

• Be genuinely hyper-local.
• Provide space for local people and council representatives to make decisions as equal partners.
• Include the civic organisations and groups in which communities place their trust. 

We look forward to working with the government and MPs to ensure that both the Bill itself and accompanying regulations enable the creation of governance arrangements that embrace the above conditions. We call these types of power-sharing arrangements ‘Community Covenants’, because they centre relationships rather than rules and procedures. (You can read more about the principles which we think underpin meaningful collaborations between councils and communities in this recent blog.)

The need for bolder action

The best way to close the gap between politics and ordinary people is to give everyone a real stake in their communities. The only way to restore the sense that this is a country in which everyone’s contribution is respected is for us to put our trust in one another. In its current form, this Bill sets us on a journey to that destination, but it does not cross the finish line.

After all, polling for our campaign shows that people don’t just want the ability to take local spaces into community ownership – they want more community control over the public services and spending decisions that shape their places. We’re encouraged by language in the government’s summary of the Bill that suggests new neighbourhood governance arrangements will enable local people to play a more active role in service design and delivery. But we believe meaningful community involvement in decisions – especially those usually made by the state – won’t happen unless we act to make it irrefutable that power lies with local people. That’s why we’re urging policymakers to amend this legislation to also include a Community Right to Shape Public Services and Community Right to Control Investment.

Our message to Ministers is simple: you’ve made significant progress this week towards realising a vision of a community-powered Britain, but you need to be bolder still. There’s still time for you to deliver the comprehensive and ambitious community empowerment agenda we need. There’s still time for you to refine this Bill so that it truly lives up to its name.