Briefings and responses

We are not commenting on any feature other than the use of the FSO in relation to multi-occupancy high-rise buildings. Our responses contained below.

We note that the consultation states that the provisional Local Government Finance Settlement will be published in December 2019. We would urge the Government to publish the provisional settlement as soon as possible after 12 December and no later than Parliament rising for the Christmas recess.

The Government’s industrial strategy provides a critical opportunity to drive the creation of a successful, world-leading economy and the LGA welcomes the Government’s ambition to drive growth and tackle the economic imbalances in different parts of the country.

The LGA does not support the proposal to include major shale gas production projects in the Nationally Significant Infrastructure Project (NSIP) regime. This will bypass the locally democratic planning system.

It has been clear for a long time that local audit is in crisis. The causes are multi-faceted and complex. We have been pressing the Government to set a firm timetable by which timely audits will be restored.

We have drafted this response alongside our response to the DLUHC consultation on introducing a new use class for short-term lets. It will be vital that both the planning use class changes and the registration scheme are introduced alongside each other, as neither will be effective without the other mechanism.

The Levelling Up and Regeneration Bill will give the Secretary of State significant additional powers to review and intervene in individual councils, and ultimately to be able to make strong directions, such as capping borrowing or forcing the sale of specific assets.

The LGA welcomes and supports the government’s ambition set out in the 25 Year Environment Plan for this to be the first generation that leaves the environment in a better state than that in which we inherited it. We also welcome and support the ambition to create a new, world-leading, statutory and independent environmental watchdog to hold government to account on our environmental ambitions and obligations.

This response has been cleared by the LGA’s Economy and Resources Board.

LGA response to the Department of Transport (DfT) call for ideas on decarbonisation of transport.