Pickles points to code of conduct to replace Standards for England

The government is in discussions with the Local Government Association about a code of conduct to hold councillors and local authorities to account once Standards for England is closed, the Communities Secretary has revealed.

Speaking at Communities and Local Government Questions at the House of Commons, Eric Pickles described the proposal for a code as “sensible”.

He added that provisions for the closure of Standards for England would be included in the Localism Bill “and we will move as speedily as possible”.

Pickles argued that the only achievement of standards boards was to be “petty, silly and pointless”. He cited the referral of a Green Party councillor, Jason Kitcat, to the board for not showing his council respect, after he placed unofficial footage of a council meeting on his personal website.

Last month Andrew Stunell, a junior minister at the DCLG, said serious misconduct for personal gain would be treated as a criminal act and so councillors would face a court rather than Standards for England.

The Communities Secretary told the Commons that proposals for elected mayors for the 12 largest cities in the country would be subject to referendums. “Once we know the views of the people in those 12 cities, we will move on to the election of a mayor if people vote for that,” he said.

In other exchanges, the Housing Minister announced that the New Homes Bonus – intended to encourage local authorities and communities to support developments and worth £900m in new money – will commence in April 2011.

Grant Shapps suggested that councils which grant planning permission now will benefit from it next year. “The bonus will last a total of six years, facilitating the building of many more homes in every area of the country,” he said.

In answer to a question on the impact of local authorities planning large housing developments that will affect residents in neighbouring councils, the Housing Minister promised to impose a duty to co-operate, “so that one authority has to be talking to its neighbour in order to get its local plan signed off”.

He also vowed that the coalition government would build more affordable homes in every single year of its government than Labour did “in all its 13 years together”.

Shapps said the affordable rent option – “which means that rents can be up to 80% of the market rent” – meant that less money could produce more homes.