On 13th December 2010 the government published the Localism Bill setting out plans it says will give communities and local government greater powers and freedom from Whitehall.

The Big Society is David Cameron's ‘big idea' to fundamentally change the relationship between citizens, the voluntary and community sector and the state.

It involves the radical transformation of public services - giving local people and not-for-profit organisations the opportunity to take over the running of public services - and giving more control to citizens over what happens in their area.

The Coalition government have stated their intention to implement ‘community budgets' through which various Whitehall funding pots are pooled to allow local authorities to redesign services across agencies.

This builds upon the learning from the previous government's Total Place Initiative which tested new approaches to how resources can be used more efficiently, overlaps and duplication between organisations can be avoided and services can be improved in local areas.

'Climate change' refers to changes in the earth's temperature over the last 110 years. Since 1900, the average temperature on the planet has increased by 0.74 degrees Celsius and the UK's sea level has risen by about 10 centimetres. Further global rises and extreme weather is expected.  There is overwhelming international agreement that the rate of change is due to human activity.

Community Cohesion is what must happen in all communities to enable different groups of people to get on well together.

The Comprehensive Area Assessment (CAA) is the new inspection framework for local public services.

On this policy page you can find all content on the website relating to the recession and the credit crunch.

'Equality' refers to the idea of equal treatment whatever one's age; ability; gender; race; religion or belief and sexual orientation.  The Equalities and Human Rights Commision (EHRC) was set up on 1st October 2007 and can use its new enforcement powers to guarantee people's equality. The EHRC also has a mandate to promote understanding of the Human Rights Act.

Participatory budgeting (PB) is a method for enabling people to decide how specific pots of public funding should be spent.

The Duty to Involve requires local authorities to ensure they involve representatives of local people in any activities relating to changing, improving or otherwise making things different.

The Empowerment White Paper entitled ‘Communities in Control: real people, real power' sets out the Governmment's vision for the future of democracy, society and citizens and makes clear its ambition to pass power into the hands of communities.

The Sustainable Communities Act aims to promote the sustainability of local communities by encouraging the economic, social or environmental well-being of the authority's area, or part of its area (including participation in civic and political activity).

ASSET TRANSFER is a process by which local assets such as buildings and land currently, or formerly, managed by local public bodies are handed over to the community to manage.

Elected councillors are responsibile for making decisions on behalf of their local community about local services.

New Deal for Communities (NDC) is a key programme in the Government's strategy to tackle multiple deprivation in the most deprived neighbourhoods in the country, providing some of the poorest communities with financial resources to prioritise needs in a co-ordinated way.

As part of the Neigbourhood Renewal Fund, Community Empowerment Networks (CENs) were set up in 88 of the most deprived local authority areas to support voluntary and community sector organisations to participate in Local Strategic Partnerships (LSPs).

Local Strategic Partnerships (LSPs) are a way of bringing together people, public sector organisations and businesses to work to improve the local quality of life.

Planning shapes the physical environment in which we live and work. This policy page covers national planning policy, the planning system and community participation in planning. 

Local Area Agreements (LAAs) set out the priorities for a local area agreed between central government on the one hand and the local authority, Local Strategic Partnership and other key local partners on the other hand.