The post you are reporting:
Alexander, DPPT has never claimed to be the only alternative, the best alternative, yes, the only one - er no. I've told you this before on a number of occasions and yet you persist in repeating the falsehood.
The DfT are ONLY considering the DHB proposal at the moment and doing so in the light of the representations that have been made by the stakeholders. They have only one decision to make at the moment and that is whether to allow the privatisation or not - how many times do you have to be told this simple fact?
Once the decision that we are all waiting on has been announced, then we will see over the course of the ensuing 12 months just how seriously your proposals have been taken by government. However, I would advise you that proposals made in submissions are not generally considered post decision unless they have a mandate and a cost/benefit analysis, so if you want to get further consideration after the decision, you'll need to get working and get your plans a democratic mandate, the endorsement of the major stakeholders and customers of the port and get writing a detailed costed and tested business plan.
The delays have not come about because of prevarication over which alternative to chose by the government (the alternatives are not even under official consideration at the moment), but because DHB went voluntarily to privatisation under the Ports Act 1991 and any rejection of an application for transfer made under that Act must be absolutely watertight.
It is not me that calls it the Localism Act 2011, that is what it is.
You may be thinking of Phillip Blond, with whom I have been in regular contact in the past, who has recently been disillusioned with progress on localism and the apparent hijack of the 'Big Society' agenda by some charitable organisations whose very existence depends on public money and have become cross because the public money stream is drying up. He has recently written in a number of national papers and made an appearance on Newsnight. However, the Localism Act 2011 is a big step in the right direction and does allow local communities and community based charities such as DPPT to do a number of things, including listing buildings and facilities as community assets on which the community has first right of refusal to create a bid to buy and much much more. Unfortunately statutory land holders and the properties controlled by them are exempted...I'll let you work out what that might mean.