The Localism Act 2011

The Localism Act 2011

The Localism Act 2011 is a major piece of reforming legislation that makes significant changes to local government, social housing and the planning system; it also amends the rules relating to assured shorthold tenancy deposits.

Overview

The Act is the flagship measure of the Government's decentralisation policy, which aims to move decision making from central Government to local communities. The policy is summed up in the Government's guide to the Act: "We think that power should be exercised at the lowest practical level – close to the people who are affected by decisions, rather than distant from them." The central planks of the Act are the abolition of Regional Strategies, a new system of neighbourhood planning which will allow certain development to be approved by a local referendum, new rights for community groups to bid to take over assets of community value when they are sold and the introduction of a general power of competence for