Power to the people has long been a rallying cry for politicians both radical and conservative. The latest to embrace this somewhat vague concept is our own communities secretary, Hazel Blears.
Launching the Communities in control white paper this week, Blears claimed there was a ‘tide of history flowing in the direction of greater democracy’. She said it was time for local people to have more control over the forces and decisions that shape their lives.
And who could argue with that? Certainly not the Local Government Association, which described the white paper as representing ‘the best that councils have to offer’.
Many of the proposals are sensible. They include a duty to promote democracy, public meetings to hold council officers to account and the use of petitions to force town halls to respond to particular issues.
But it would be naive to assume that the government has fully embraced the localist agenda. Ministers talk of ‘engagement’ and ‘listening to citizens’ but they can develop a tin ear when citizens say the wrong thing.
Take, for example, the way the government has sidestepped normal planning rules with its proposed eco-towns. As our cover feature (pages 16–19) shows, it stands accused of using discredited ‘new town’ powers to impose the initiative on the public.
The new Planning Bill will go further, introducing an unelected quango, the Infrastructure Planning Commission, to determine the site of large-scale projects such as airports, power stations and roads (see pages 20–21).
Public inquiries, which allow local people to question developers, call witnesses and present evidence, will no longer be an option.
Of course, the current planning system is far from perfect, with inquiries often going on for many years. But the government needs to ensure that decisions are made after fully taking on board the views of those most likely to be affected.
