Clause 33 - Preparation of permit schemes
Traffic Management Bill
5:15 pm
Mr Tony McNulty (Parliamentary Under-Secretary, Department for Transport; Harrow East, Labour)
My hon. Friend makes a fair point. I see the transport directors of the Government offices for the regions on a monthly basis, and I have made that point to them, as issues of infrastructure and other traffic matters do not stop at regional boundaries.
The hon. Member for Christchurch, when not in ideological mode, is in amnesiac mode. I did not talk about anything other than the charge, which was the imposition of a national, universal permit scheme. In some instances it is appropriate for a permit scheme to be imposed, in the last resort, on two adjoining highway authorities. That is why it is in the Bill, however quickly and sharply it was alighted on by the hon. Member for Spelthorne. That applies in the cross-regional example and in conurbations and, at the risk of sounding London-centric, it would be worth considering it for adjoining London boroughs, where there is clearly a case for the scheme to traverse the two boroughs rather than just one—but only in the last resort. We therefore think that the reserve power is appropriate, and I urge my colleagues to resist the amendment.