Alex Norris column: ​Empowering our communities is exciting work to be involved with

After the election, I was appointed to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG), the department led by our Deputy Prime Minister, Angela Rayner, where I’ve been serving as Minister for Democracy and Local Growth.

MHCLG is a department that I shadowed when we were in opposition and it’s one very close to my heart. Everything that MHCLG does is at the frontline of where the Government can have the most direct impact on people’s lives, taking in areas like housing, devolution, community relations and local investment.

For example, we’ve announced plans to kick-start house building with changes to planning rules that will make it easier to redevelop brownfield land – previously used land like disused petrol stations and industrial estates.

We will be making it easier for councils to replace council houses sold under Right to Buy too, and mandatory local housing targets, which were scrapped last year, will be brought back.

This means that every community will do their bit to provide housing, except in cases where there are hard constraints, like flood planes or national parks.

Last week we saw how devolution plays an important part in this, with East Midlands Mayor, Claire Ward, securing almost £10 million in funding to build over 700 new homes in Nottingham.

A big part of my brief is local growth and bringing funding back into local communities – this is what the last government called Levelling Up.

Part of this is responsibility for local growth plans; we want communities across the country to have these plans, put together by local authorities, the private sector, education providers and trade bodies, to make sure that there is a strategy in place for the future.

I’m also responsible for our work in support of towns and high streets, like in Kimberley and Bulwell.

To build local economies all across the country it’s important that these local hubs can have the support they need to thrive.

I’m leading on Community Ownership too, where we can offer help to communities to take over local assets that might otherwise be at risk, like sports facilities, arts and music venues, museums and galleries, parks, and pubs.

I know that the people who live in communities and have skin in the game are the ones best placed to make decisions about their homes.

That’s why I’m excited to work in a department that seeks to level the playing field and empower communities to get ahead. If we’re successful, we’ll see the benefits in every corner of the UK, as well as right here in Nottingham North and Kimberley.