Briefings and responses

Our response to the DfE second stage consultation on implementing a new further education funding and accountability system for adult skills.

Councils have been raising concerns about the impact of unregulated growth in the tourist accommodation sector for some time. We welcome Government’s exploration of the issue and urge Government to take meaningful action to rebalance the impacts of this growth industry.

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

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

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.