Clause 1 - Liability of officers etc. forobstruction by body corporate
Highways (Obstruction by Body Corporate) Bill
9:30 am
Mr Alun Michael (Minister of State (Rural Affairs), Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs; Cardiff South and Penarth, Labour/Co-operative)
First, may I say how pleased I am to be a member of this Committee under your chairmanship, Mr. Pike, brief as consideration in Committee will be? Although I know that you preside in the neutral persona of a member of the Chairmen's Panel this morning, may I acknowledge your long-standing chairmanship of the rights of way review committee? That committee has made a significant contribution to promoting understanding and clarity in the sometimes complicated legal framework for rights of way. The Government are grateful for the committee's continuing work on finding consensus wherever possible on the many proposals associated with implementing the 2000 Act.
There was not an opportunity to do so on Second Reading, so I congratulate my hon. Friend the Member for Hastings and Rye (Mr. Foster) on his success in the private Member's Bill ballot and thank him for taking forward this important Bill.
The clause applies section 314 of the 1980 Act to offences under sections 137 and 137ZA of that Act. Those offences concern, respectively, the wilful obstruction of a highway and the failure to comply with an order to remove an obstruction. My hon. Friend has already referred to a particular case about which many Members in all parts of the House expressed concern. It exposed a loophole in the law: by putting the land in question in the ownership of a shell company, it was possible to frustrate the intentions of the law, the efforts of the local authority and decisions of the magistrates on reopening an obstructed right of way. The matter was already a pretty ancient case of dispute when I took up my current responsibilities for rights of way. It was frustrating for anybody who cares about these issues that it appeared that there was no way to reach a conclusion.
The Bill will close the loophole to which my hon. Friend referred and enable local authorities to ensure that the intentions of Parliament can be enforced, although we will still require decisions and actions to be taken to bring issues before a magistrates court. As a Department, we seek to work with and encourage local authorities in the maintenance of the rights of way network. As my hon. Friend said, that network is enormously important to local economies in virtually every part of the country. It is also important to people in rural areas, because of its significance to the rural economy, and to those in the country and those in the town who enjoy using it.
Applying section 314 to these offences will ensure that where a body corporate commits an offence of wilfully obstructing a highway or of failing to comply with an order to remove an obstruction, and it is proved that the offence was committed with the consent, connivance or neglect of an officer of the body corporate, that officer may also be found guilty of that offence.
The Bill's provisions will apply to offences committed under section 137, which covers wilful obstruction of a highway, and section 137ZA, which covers failure to comply with an order to remove an obstruction, after the commencement of the Bill, regardless of whether the order to remove the obstruction made under section 137ZA was made before or after commencement. I am happy to back the Bill and I hope that it receives support from both sides of the Committee.