Public meeting on reversing community decline in Guildford

11.50.21am UTC (GMT +0000) Thu 2nd Dec 2004

Today Guildford will host a public meeting to discuss the Sustainable Communities Bill, a bill designed to reverse the declining state of Britain's communities.

The bill will greatly empower local people and government in Guildford. Local authorities will be able to demand more money and resources from national government which, supporters say, will turn politics on its head.

Charles Secrett, former Director of Friends of the Earth, who is speaking at the meeting said:

' People will have a lot more power to make the places they live in better. Localism in this Bill means local people and local government deciding their own indicators of sustainability and setting their own targets with a strategy that fits into the local context'.

By giving Local Authorities greater power the principle of the Bill is 'bottom-up' rather than 'top-down', literally turning normal UK wide legislation on its head.

Sue Doughty MP for Guildford says:

' The Bill requires central government to respond to and be driven by local councils and their communities. We believe Guildford's communities know more than Whitehall about how to make Guildford a better place to live, that's why Guildford needs this bill.'

The meeting will be held at the YMCA in Bridge Street, Guildford and will commence at 07.30pm