Clause 44 - joint arrangments
Local Government Bill
4:30 pm
Mr Geoffrey Clifton-Brown (Cotswold, Conservative)
It may help my hon. Friend if I quote page 13 of the draft guidance, which the Liberal Democrats helpfully gave me. I suspect that it did not reach me before because I was not on the Committee at the beginning when the documents were circulated. I am grateful to the hon. Member for Kingston and Surbiton for letting me have a copy. On page 13 on the role of local authorities, which is relevant to the joint arrangements under clause 44, it says:
''Local authorities must likewise be motivated to become involved in a BID. A local authority will look to business to provide a plan for improvements which will fit in with existing objectives for local improvements. They will also wish to ensure that these plans are of benefit to the wider community, including residents in the local area, and in order to take the BID to a vote, will need to be convinced that there is sufficient business support in the area to make the BID a success. Any beneficial outcomes that result from a BID are likely to increase the popularity of the Local Authority in the area.''
That is not necessarily the case, as certain schemes will benefit businesses but not an area's residents. For example, bright floodlighting for 24 hours may be to the detriment of residents. My hon. Friend's question is highly pertinent. The local authority, as guardian of local residents, must consult to discover what the residents want, as opposed to what businesses want, to ensure that there is no such conflict. Will the Minister give the Committee some idea of what honest brokering role the local authority will play after the schemes are drawn up?
Mr. Todd rose—