Clause 45 - Additional contributions and action
Local Government Bill
8:55 am
Mr Desmond Swayne (New Forest West, Conservative)
Subsection (2)(a) refers to
''the billing authority which has made the arrangements''.
Does that mean that the billing authority is merely required to hand over the finance that it has raised through the process of billing, or is it empowered to make additional contributions? As I understand it, the billing authority is likely to be as described in subsection (2)(b)—a county council or some other local government body. With that in mind, why are we expecting local authorities to make a contribution to
the BID, given that they are supposed to be self-financing as a consequence of the whole scheme? Why are we expecting local authorities to make a contribution that is additional to what would otherwise have been spent by local government?
I am concerned about the possibility of a democratic deficit arising because the bids are supposed to have been arrangements set up, in effect, by a local referendum, but under the clause local residents may be expected to stump up through the local authority. I hope that the Minister will assure me that only the money that has been raised through the BID billing scheme is expected to be paid under the clause and not additional resources from the local authority.