I met with Rt Hon Hazel Blears MP, Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, to discuss a meeting I held with local residents earlier this month.

I invited residents in his constituency to meet with him to talk about the government’s plans on giving communities greater power and I was able to pass their comments directly on to the minister.

The government’s Community Empowerment Action Plan encourages councils to allow communities to have more of a say about what goes on in their area. Actions include: giving tenants a greater role in housing management, giving people a greater role in planning, more ‘community kitties’ to let people decide how and where to invest in their area, more citizens’ juries to shape policy, more on-line tools to involve people, transferring more assets such as disused buildings or land to community groups, supporting community land trusts, which create income for local improvements, and new local charters agreed between local people and service-providers.

I’m concerned that proper complaints often aren’t treated seriously by the council and I’m often inundated with constituents telling me that they don’t.  The government wants to consult on what powers local people should have to demand action where the council fails them.

I was delighted to be able to pass on what we discussed at my meeting to Hazel and I know that she will take these into consideration when considering this plan further.

Have a look at the poll on my homepage and let me know what you think about how many people should have to sign a petition before the council will act on it - this was certainly a topic that those at the meeting felt strongly about and I'd be interested to know what you think.