"The grip of state control will be released and power will be placed in people’s hands...There will be more freedom, more choice and more local control. Ours is a vision of open public services - and we will make it happen."
Prime Minister David Cameron

GovToday presents Sustainable Communities 2011: Local Growth, Local Futures Conference and Exhibition, our third, Annual Sustainable Communities Conference, which will be held on the 2nd November 2011, at The Brewery, The City of London.

At its most fundamental level, achieving Sustainable Communities is a means of delivering Sustainable Development for individual places, balancing and integrating the UK’s environmental, social and economic goals, placing People at the heart of the agenda.

The Coalition Government has pledged to achieve fairness and opportunity for all, putting more power and responsibility into the hands of the People in order to achieve Sustainable growth: “we must rebalance our economy, ensuring that growth is spread and prosperity shared.” Nick Clegg, Deputy Prime Minister.

There is a fundamental shift of power away from Westminster, ending the era of top-down government, giving new powers to councils, communities, neighbours and individuals. It is hoped that this local democratic accountability, as addressed in the Localism Bill and the Local Growth White Paper, will make the local economy more responsive to the needs of local business and local people and move away from public sector-led growth to private-sector-led growth. Local economic partnerships and £1.4 billion in the regional growth fund helping to generate new opportunities.

The role of local authorities and their delivery partners remains critical to the creation of Sustainable Communities. The Government argues that by reducing ringfencing of finances for local government, allowing councils to borrow against their future tax revenues and with the possibility of greater discretion over business rates, local authorities now enhanced local powers to influence planning, housing, and urban development. There remains, of course, the overriding requirement to invest in our Green Economy, whilst targeting necessary cuts and efficiencies in the current economic climate.

Sustainable Communities 2011: Local Growth, Local Futures Conference and Exhibition will examine specific areas of Government policy, which are radically affecting our Sustainable Communities: economic growth, social development and environmental responsibility. This Conference will determine the success of the Government’s policies in 2011, and assess best practice delivery and specific challenges on the ground for our communities in the future.