Assembly announces new proposals for Local Government and Agriculture legislation

26 Sep 2008

At its first Plenary Session since the end of the Summer Recess, the Assembly announced new proposals for legislation in the fields of Local Government and Agriculture.

In a Legislative Statement on 23rd September, the Minister for Social Justice and Local Government, Brian Gibbons, proposed a new Assembly Measure for Local Government reform.

If passed, the Measure would:

• Reform the statutory basis for the improvement of services by Local Authorities, National Park Authorities and the Fire and Rescue Services in Wales; and
• Reform the law of community planning in Wales by creating a statutory regime integrating long term community planning and the shorter term service improvement regime.

In a similar Statement by the Minister for Rural Affairs, Elin Jones, proposals were announced for making a new Legislative Competence Order for Agriculture. If passed, the National Assembly for Wales (Legislative Competence) (Agriculture and Rural Affairs) Order 2008 would provide the Assembly with new powers to reform agriculture in Wales by means of an Assembly Measure for the red meat industry. In particular, the Measure would give the Assembly greater flexibility to designate the arrangments for the collection of levies from the red meat sector, in order to promote the red meat industry.