The third of the Viewpoint series of events focussed on new rights being given to communities, local government staff and individual members of the public through the Localism Bill. The rights to challenge, buy and build are all new and different ways of thinking about how services will be delivered in the future. Paddy May, the councils strategy manager gave an overview on these new rights that are contained in the Localism Bill that has now received royal assent. Paddy mentioned that the changes such as the right to challenge are not about functions but rather about the services local councils provide. So accountability for planning applications, for example, will not be taken away from elected councillors as this is a vital function of local councils. This new right is about someone offering to provide an existing service in a better way.
