Councils and the communities they serve may get the power to make local laws under proposals that are now out to consultation. The changes could see authorities no longer having to seek Whitehall approval for new byelaws – and they could get the power to issue fixed penalty charges.
The Communities Secretary, Hazel Blears, said the objective was to give communities the power to tackle issues such as community safety, vandalism and public nuisance that really mattered to local neighbourhoods. The proposals would allow councils to set, sign and sanction local byelaws without always having to get Whitehall agreement but they must have the support of their residents.

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Representatives of local authorities, housing associations and community councils who deal with issues of rural housing will give evidence directly to a committee of the Scottish Parliament next week. It will happen when the Rural Affairs and Environment Committee, meets in Melrose on Tuesday, the first time it has visited the town.

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This report from Communities and Local Government assesses the impact of Local Public Service Agreement targets on local service performance. It concludes that the LPSA regime was not as powerful a driver of local organisational change as the Comprehensive Performance Assessment which succeeded it.

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