On behalf of its membership, the cross-party LGA regularly submits to Government
consultations, briefs parliamentarians and responds to a wide range of parliamentary inquiries. Our recent
responses to government consultations and parliamentary briefings can be found here.
Councils are well placed to lead a local approach to flood defence, using their local knowledge to ensure that money is directed towards projects that best reflect local needs
The LGA has responded to the Government’s regulatory review on the future of transport technology. We have responded to the questions that cover the overall policy and regulatory framework for councils.
The LGA can see the potential benefits of the Care Workforce Pathway for adult social care but, in order to realise them, consideration must be given to the issues raised below. By working together to address these issues, we are hopeful that the pathway can be a success and deliver some of the changes that are needed to bolster this critical workforce.
Councils want to be able to create great communities and support local involvement in designing, planning and creating great places for current and future generations.
The Department for Housing, Levelling Up and Communities held a consultation from 6 February to 5 April 2024 on its proposals to introduce a new, regulatory standard relating to the competence and conduct of social housing staff. This standard will require senior managers and executives to have, or be working towards, a relevant qualification.
The Department for Housing, Levelling Up and Communities held a consultation from 13 February to 9 April 2024 on proposed changes to various permitted development rights.
The Department for Housing, Levelling Up and Communities held a consultation from 30 January to 26 March 2024 on proposed changes to the social housing allocation system, and proposals relating to existing tenants living in social housing.
In principle, the LGA support the objective of the new proposed system of environmental assessment, to streamline the existing EU-derived processes and place an increased focus on delivering environmental ambitions in the UK. However the consultation does not contain the level of detail required to understand how Environmental Outcome Reports (EOR’s) will work in practice. We would urge Government to engage directly with local authorities when drafting the outcomes and ahead of public consultation, to ensure they are practical and can be monitored effectively.
The implementation of the proposals set out in this consultation and the Government’s broader planning reform agenda will require significant resource, skills and capacity at a local level to incorporate the changes into plan-preparation and decision-making. We welcome the Government’s commitment to developing a planning skills strategy but urge them to bring it forward swiftly.
We welcome the proposal to increase planning application fees. However, our modelling has shown that even if all application fees were uplifted by 35 per cent, the overall national shortfall for 2020/21 would have remained above £80 million. Councils must have the flexibility to set planning fees at local level to cover their costs relating to planning, which could include the employment of additional qualified planners. This would put councils in a stronger position to address the skills and capacity challenges in planning departments.