Clause 44 - The Street works register
Traffic Management Bill
4:15 pm
Mr Tony McNulty (Parliamentary Under-Secretary, Department for Transport; Harrow East, Labour)
In terms of requirements to remove rubbish, that is not the purpose of the Bill. The hon. Gentleman knows fine well—this will come out in discussion of the regulations—that many contractors will use the street or road as a permanent or at least temporary dump for their building materials or rubbish, for the duration of their work. As such, it is entirely appropriate to include that element as well as skips in the Bill.
I was referring to what I thought the hon. Gentleman was referring to: his suggestion that the authority should not have to register rubbish that will probably be cleared up then and there or by the end of the working day, then come back and say that it is gone, so it does not matter. There are examples throughout London of sites that effectively become a builder's yard for the duration of the contractor's work. That cannot be right or appropriate either for the local authority's maintaining its ability to fulfil its network management duty or for the efficient use of the public street or road.
Generally, street works must be done on positive terms. Contractors must work with everyone else who needs to use the road, rather than simply taking the road as a gift for the duration of their works. That happens rarely, but to the extent that it happens in London, which is principally what I have been talking about, it can be entirely disruptive. As a suggestion for inclusion in the register, it is right and proper, but the black bag that will not be there by the end of the day or the week is not.
Question put and agreed to.
Clause 44 ordered to stand part of the Bill.
Clause 45 ordered to stand part of the Bill.