The Sustainable Communities Act

By Chris

The following letter has been received by the branch from Stephen Shaw. A copy of the sample letter can be found here. If you do send a letter to your councilor please let you committee know and what the outcome is, if any.

To find if your Council has signed up to the Act check this site:     www.localworks.org
To find and contact your Councilors use this site:         www.writetothem.com

For urgent action
The Sustainable Communities Act is an amazing new law that came about due to a huge campaign by grass roots organisations. CAMRA played a leading role in the campaign and we now we urgently need your help to ensure it is a success in Kent.
For you to use the Act’s new ‘bottom up’ process your local council must first choose to do so. Unfortunately Kent is one of the few counties in England where neither the county council nor any of the district councils have so far chosen to use the Act’s process.
Please act now – Using the Act’s process means submitting proposals to government by the deadline of 31st July. This deadline is fast approaching. If your council does choose to use the Act it provides an opportunity to protect pubs and further CAMRA campaigns in Kent. It can be used to

a.. Increase the number of pubs eligible for rate relief
b.. Ensure full planning permission is require for convert a pub to another use
c.. Outlaw the use of restrictive covenants that prevent a closed pub being reopened
d.. Allocate funding to initiatives to promote local beers

ACTION - please urgently write your council urging them to ‘Please resolve to use the Sustainable Communities Act by submitting proposals by 31st July > 2009.’ I have attached a sample letter which you can use. More information on how the Sustainable Communities Act works and how to use it Local Works is the national coalition that campaigned for 5 years to see the Sustainable Communities Act made law. To find out all about the radical new ‘bottom up’ process that the Sustainable Communities Act has set up and how you can use it go to our website - www.localworks.org