Sustainable Communities Bill

I thank my hon. Friend for that helpful and reassuring intervention. New clause 6 and the Bill as a whole can help with the worrying lack of involvement locally. Not only turnout for local elections, but the number of people putting their names forward for election to parish councils, for example, have gone down. The Minister will recall that we had a lengthy discussion about the role of the Standards Board in that. If we can give parish councils more decision-making powers over what happens in their village and their local community, more people would want to get involved in parish councils and to join in events in the local community.