The Parliamentary passage of the localism bill has not generated a great deal of excitement in the press or amongst the public at large.
The lack of serious media attention the bill has garnered is regrettable. Being central to one of the key political debates of the moment, it contains some striking provisions which could make a huge difference both to how local authorities operate and to the extent to which citizens can take control of services in their local areas.
Last week, at the Local Government Information Unit conference in Stockport, Liberal Democrat MP Andrew Stunell laid down a promise and a challenge to councils: the coalition really "mean it" about localism, he said, but local government must take up the "licence to fix things" and push localism forward without guidance or a formal code of practice from central government.
"There is a window", he said, "of three to four years in which to really embed localism. But this could only happen if local government and communities worked together to a make it a reality".
The people power elements of the bill, such as the "right to challenge" the council over the provision of local service, reflects a growing consensus that engagement of citizens and communities in the process of governance is essential. Such elements of the bill represent a serious attempt to give communities the powers they need to get more involved in service delivery, as such they merit serious consideration.
There area already many successful examples of this kind of community challenge and involvement, but we must ask what will motivate more people to take over services or assets, rather than see their council deliver them.
Herein lies the challenge and the opportunity laid down by Stunell. The bill is silent on detail; how will this role play out? Rather than waiting for central government guidance, councils must seize the initiative to work with local people to shape the detail of these policies at a local level.
No one can claim this will be easy, especially at a time of budget cuts, but for true localists the opportunity to drive this agenda from the bottom up should be welcomed.
Rob Dale leads on online engagement at the Local Government Information Unit
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