The Department for Communities and Local Government (DCLG) has published a press release outlining key measures in the Localism Act which came into force on 6 April 2012. Communities Minister Andrew Stunell said: “Instead of putting barriers in the way of communities we are actively taking them away, wiping out interferences, cutting red tape and giving people the power to shape the future of their local area.”
Those measures most relevant to social housing are:
- reform of social housing regulation, helping landlords to meet local needs while strengthening tenant scrutiny. Changes to the way complaints are managed will follow in 2013.
- Community Right to Build, handing communities new ways to deliver local development.
- New planning enforcement rules, giving councils the ability to take action against people who deliberately conceal unauthorised development.
Statutory Instruments relating to the Act currently in force are listed here.