Local Democracy, Economic Development and Construction Bill [HL]

The Minister has explained carefully how he sees the balance between guidance for and prescription to local authorities. However, I reiterate what I have said before, which is from the experience of being a local councillor some years ago and much more recently: I hope that the Government can really listen and try to understand that, the more prescription there is about what councils can and cannot do, the less likely people are to be attracted to coming into local government. It is quite onerous these days to be a councillor—there are more duties, more things to do and more coming from the Government to keep abreast of. People are not willing to give up their time if they cannot be local leaders and lead as they think things should be led in their community, when all the time they are being asked to do things that are being sent down from the top. I hear what the Minister has said, but this is a serious issue. One of the reasons why people are not coming forward is that it is becoming too onerous and they cannot use their own imagination. As my noble friend Lord Greaves said last week, that stifles innovation in local government. On the positive side, I was pleased to hear that the Government are going to use the Local Government Association to try to spread best practice. That is what we need to do, along with encouraging innovation, rather than telling people what to do. I am still concerned about that aspect of the Bill.