Communities and Local Government

• Cities and regions
• Overview and policy priorities and achievements

Cities and regions

Overview and policy priorities and achievements

ODPM is often viewed as primarily a domestic department, focused on creating sustainable communities in England. However our responsibilities for Local Authorities, Housing, the Planning System, Regeneration, the Building Regulations and the regional Government Offices mean that many of our policy areas are affected by European legislation and other activities.

During the UK's Presidency of the EU, we shared what we do with other Member States, spreading the message about creating Sustainable Communities, where people want to live and work, now and in the future, throughout Europe.

The UK Presidency

Taking forward this theme involved the ODPM in a series of events culminating in an EU Ministerial Informal Meeting in Bristol in December 2005. The main theme was to consider the key ingredients of what makes communities sustainable, and how best these can be promoted and integrated in different types of communities, right across Europe.

Over the presidency the department developed further related themes, details of which will be published in the coming months.

The series of events, culminating in the Informal Meeting, helped us arrive at a consensus on what constitutes a sustainable community; what is required to create them; as well as laying out a roadmap to promote them.

ODPM's policy priorities and achievements for the Presidency

Our key priority was to promote Sustainable Communities. In addition to promoting the benefits of sustainable communities we also:

• Successfully assisted the UK Presidency conclude a Conciliation on the EU Directive on mining waste, where we led the UK's interdepartmental team in the negotiations. The agreement reached represents a successful outcome not only for the UK Presidency, but also for the UK both in securing the proportionate risk-based regulation we advocate and in our handling of the negotiating process.
• Continued to lead for the UK on the EU's Thematic Strategy on the Urban Environment.  The Commission issued its Final Communication on the strategy in January 2006.
• Took forward the implementation in England and Wales and co-ordinated the parallel implementation in Scotland and Northern Ireland of the Energy Performance of Buildings Directive. The technical requirements will come into effect in April 2006, but the Government is still considering how best to implement the administrative provisions in the period allowed by the Directive up to 2009.
• Amended the energy efficiency provisions in the Building Regulations for England and Wales in line with the energy White Paper, which aims to raise standards in the decade to 2013 learning lessons from comparable European countries.  
• Facilitated a workshop for the new and candidate countries in helping them to prepare for major meetings in Brussels. This group, plus the old Member States, were invited to a conference to discuss various construction issue including sustainability.
• Hosted a meeting of EIA/SEA experts from Member States, on behalf of the EC.  This followed publication of guidance on application of the SEA Directive in the UK (September 2005), and on undertaking sustainability appraisal in England, incorporating the requirements of the SEA Directive (November 2005).  In addition, we continued to promote a better understanding of the EIA Directive and UK planning procedures through hosting an EIA compliance seminar, with participation from the EC. 
• Helped to secure UK objectives on the future of European Structural Funds, and on State aid policy.
• Helped to generate debate on recent EU initiatives with implications for local and regional governance, leading to the second High Level Meeting on Governance and the EU hosted by ODPM in London on 29 and 30 November, 2005.
• Facilitated working level discussions between Member States on territorial cohesion building on the work started in Rotterdam by the Dutch Presidency, and secured agreement at a working level meeting in London on priorities and a programme of  future work including closer links with  the Sustainable Communities agenda.

Updated: 7 March 2006