Parish Councils: Sustainable Development

Mr. Drew
To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government whether he plans to give a greater role for parish and town councils under the Sustainable Communities Act 2007.

Barbara Follett
Local authorities already have a duty to involve local representatives when carrying out any of their functions and parish and town councils should be consulted as part of the process for submitting proposals under the Sustainable Communities Act 2007. A clause to that effect was included in the statutory guidance for local authorities which can be found on the Communities and Local Government website at:

http://www.communities.gov.uk/publications/localgovernment/strongsafeprosperous