Local Democracy, Economic Development and Construction Bill [HL]

I declare a couple of interests: first, I am a borough councillor in Berwick-upon-Tweed, which is unfortunately due to be abolished at the end of March; secondly, I am a vice-president of the Local Government Association. I am afraid that I find it difficult to believe that the legislation will make a huge difference to what we are talking about. We want to see more people involved and local government held in higher esteem. Oh, that it were that simple. It is honestly naive to believe that all that is written here will make that happen. It will not. I therefore hope that when the Minister responds to our discussions this afternoon she can explain to us where is the evidence base that the Government have used to bring forward this legislation that they think will make a difference to what happens in local democracy. We are going to spend a lot of time here and, at the end, it will be difficult to see a huge difference. I would also like to hear from the Minister how the Government will monitor whether this will work. I see a problem with the Government repeatedly coming forward with legislation. We have an amendment to this Bill that amends an Act that was passed only in the last Session of Parliament. Something is wrong somewhere if we have to do this all the time. Nothing makes local government life more difficult than the continuous legislation and guidance that authorities must deal with. I say that from the heart as someone who has been a councillor for a borough that represents only 26,000 people and therefore has few officers to deal with the amount of legislation coming out. I would be interested to hear if the Minister has compelling evidence that this will make a difference.