THE new Community Empowerment, Housing and Economic Regeneration Bill has just been released and aims to empower local communities and individuals by involving them in the design and delivery of local services.

The Community Secretary has stated the new Bill is looking to harness petition power to enable local people to have more of an influence on decisions relating to the development of their area.

This includes a new right to request a stronger say on spending decisions affecting their communities, a right to ensure local authorities consider the sale or transfer of under-used properties, lands or parks to community groups, co-operatives and social enterprises, and the new right to force a debate on specific local issues onto the council’s agenda. Ultimately, this is likely to lead to lengthy consultation during purchasing and planning. Confirmation of the new Bill is expected in early November. However, commercial property developers, agents and contractors could reduce its potential slowing affect by making provisions now.

This could include finalising deals and plans, opening-up consultation earlier or progressing site assessments and surveys.

The new Bill also plans to bring into force long awaited reforms to the Housing, Construction and Regeneration Act 1996, which has been the subject of debate since its introduction 10 years ago.

The reforms aim to improve cash flow through construction supply chains by increasing the scope of the legislation, beefing up the payment provisions and encouraging parties to use adjudication.

Parties wanting to object to these new provisions have until August 8 to do so, but developers and construction professionals should ensure they pay close attention to this in the future.