This is the first in our series of guides on the Localism Act.

Over the coming weeks we will look in detail at various aspect of the Localism Act. But this first instalment looks at what the Government wants to achieve with the Act and, in summary, at what the Act contains.

The Government’s primary aim with the Localism Act is to shift power away from central government and towards local people. In the words of Greg Clark, Minister for Decentralisation:

“the best means of strengthening society is not for central government to try and seize all the power and responsibility for itself. It is to help people and their locally elected representatives to achieve their own ambitions. This is the essence of the Big Society.”

To do this the Government will use the Localism Act to give:

• new freedoms and flexibilities for local government
• new rights and powers for communities and individuals
• reform to make the planning system more democratic and more effective
• reform to ensure that decisions about housing are taken locally

Over the coming days, in the rest of this series we will look at what detailed measures will be introduced to achieve the Government’s aims.

More from the Government on Localism can be found here.

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