Brigg Blog is fiercely non-political - we don't support any party.
Watch out for the current government's Locality Bill. Reports suggest it's going to propose giving households in neighbourhoods (eg Brigg) the right to join together and decide planning issues (eg housing developments, extensions, etc). The carrot for those that do will be a possible reduction in the council tax demand. The thrust behind it is the current planning system is costing too much (in council staff terms?) and that local folk should make local decisions affecting where they live.
Much will be written and said about this when it finally appears in the next few weeks, having been delayed.
All Brigg Blog followers will like the sound of reduced council tax bills. But with so much apathy about and so many people declining to vote in national and local elections, don't expect a stampede to create neighbourhood planning bodies on our estates. That's if the Bill ever becomes an Act of Parliament.
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Much of the localism being talked about is moving powers down from local authorities to "communities". It sounds nice, but the main governance problem in England is actually *weak* local government compared with central government. If powers are to be transferred (including financial powers), it should be from central to local, not from local to community.
What I have read concerning the Localism Bill and local government doesn't suggest that it will be strengthened in any meaningful way.
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