Clause 2 - Gating orders
Clean Neighbourhoods and Environment Bill
12:00 pm
Mrs Anne McIntosh (Shadow Minister, Environment and Transport; Vale of York, Conservative)
Just for clarification, as these amendments are quite specific, I will seek a short debate on clause 2 stand part, if that is in order. I will therefore curtail my comments to simply moving the amendments at this stage.
Amendment No. 2 seeks to delete the text of lines 10 to 12 in proposed new section 129A of the original Government proposal in clause 2 that introduces a new part 8A, ''Restriction of rights over highway''. We are seeking clarification from the Minister of the circumstances under which the Government will take evidence, and what the weight of that evidence will be, to conclude that illegal business activities have been conducted. Also, what precautions will be taken as to who is currently the registered owner of the vehicle?
As drafted, the wording means that we now have a change in the law whereby, even if my vehicle is out of action and I am not seeking to drive it, I am still now required to license and insure it fully, whereas before, if it was so-called ''off the road'', the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Authority would not require the vehicle to be taxed or insured if it was not being used for a period of six months—or perhaps longer, I am not sure. That is quite a recent change.