Clause 71 - Power to require authority to
Traffic Management Bill
3:16 pm
Mr David Jamieson (Parliamentary Under-Secretary, Department for Transport; Plymouth, Devonport, Labour)
The point of the clause is to give the national authority a reserve power to compel authorities to apply for parking enforcement powers, whereas the amendment would allow the national authority to ''invite'' them to do so.
Effective parking enforcement is essential to reduce congestion and ensure road safety but, for good reason, enforcement of such offences is not a high priority for the police. As the hon. Member for Christchurch said, more than 80 authorities outside London have already acquired decriminalised parking enforcement powers under the Road Traffic Act 1991. They must all be thanking him for bringing in that Act—we find so many references to it. Credit where it is due, I say.
The 1991 Act, which was introduced against a background of the police giving a lower priority to enforcement, required all London authorities to take on decriminalised parking enforcement powers by July 1994. However, we are concerned that some authorities are slow in facing up to reality. They should seriously be considering the introduction of civil parking enforcement powers in their areas. That is why we feel
that the reserve power to compel authorities to apply for parking enforcement powers is needed. We recognise that authorities require sufficient time to prepare to take on parking enforcement powers—about 18 months—and we would certainly ensure that the commencement date for the enforcement powers in any notice to apply is realistic.
Subsections (3) and (5) provide for a dialogue between the national authority and the local authority before any notice is issued. I agree, to a point, with the hon. Gentleman about localism: where possible, we should allow local authorities the greatest freedom to act on behalf of the people whom they represent, but localism does not mean opting out of responsibilities. Any future Government may want to look into a situation in which an authority is not facing up to its responsibilities. I invite the Committee to reject the amendment.