Clause 18 - Guidance to local traffic authorities
Traffic Management Bill
2:45 pm
Mr Greg Knight (East Yorkshire, Conservative)
I seek some information from the Minister. He referred to the language used by lawyers, and in this clause, the first sentence states that the
''appropriate national authority may publish guidance to local traffic authorities''.
What does he mean by the word ''publish''? Legally, something is published if it is given to a person other than the author. Does he envisage that the guidance will be published only for local traffic authorities, or will it reach a wider audience? I sincerely hope that it is intended for ''publish'' to be interpreted in the widest sense. Every local library and local newspaper should have a copy of the guidance. I should like to see to a copy when it is published, so I hope the Minister will agree to put one in the Library.
I say that because subsection (2) says:
''In performing those duties a local traffic authority shall''—
now we have the word ''shall''—
''have regard to any such guidance.''
In other words, if the local traffic authority does not follow the guidance, it is in breach of a duty. If the guidance is not widely published, how will the public know whether their traffic authority is in breach of the duty under which they are supposed to operate? I hope that the Minister will reassure the Committee that a copy of the guidance will be available to any member of the public on request. It would be unfair to expect the Minister to tell us everything that he thinks will be in the guidance today.