Unlock Democracy is a key supporter of the campaign for the Sustainable Communities Bill. The Bill is soon to have its final stage in the House of Commons (Report Stage) on Friday 18th May. This is the most difficult hurdle for the Bill – if it passes this stage it will very likely be law within a few months. But to pass this stage it needs the government’s support.

The Sustainable Communities Bill campaign team is currently negotiating with the government in order to secure their support. Communities Minister, Phil Woolas, made a statement promising not to block the Bill at our London Rally on 26th March (see http://www.unlockdemocracy.org.uk/?p=758). On the same day he also wrote the following in a briefing to the Parliamentary Labour Party;

“It is for local people and their elected representatives to determine how best to ensure that their community is sustainable and thriving”.

However, there is a danger that the government will try to water the Bill down.

You can help ensure this does not happen by writing to your MP on this issue again.

Please take the following URGENT ACTION

1. Write to your MP saying:

* you welcome the encouraging words of Minister Phil Woolas, and

* asking them to do all they can to “ensure the Sustainable Communities Bill is not watered down from being a Bill in which councils and communities, to use Phil Woolas’s words, ‘determine’ the policies, to one in which they are merely ‘consulted’ and all the decisions are taken centrally in Whitehall.”

2. Please ask your MP to reply to you indicating their support and please send us a copy of any reply you receive, so we can monitor how things are going.

NB the address to write to is: [MP's name] MP, House of Commons, London SW1A 0AA (or use http://www.writetothem.com).

Thank you. With your continued support we can win!

Ron

Taken from: Unlock Democracy Newsletter