The National Association of Local Councils (NALC) welcomed the Government's decision to extend the Sustainable Communities Act to include parish and town councils.

This means councils can drive a new bottom-up process giving local people direct involvement in Whitehall action to help their communities. NALC chair Cllr Ken Browse said: 'Local councils are the most local part of government. Our connection with local people and knowledge of the local area means we are ideally placed to make use of the act.'