Clause 60 - Amount of fixed penalties
Clean Neighbourhoods and Environment Bill
3:45 pm
Mr David Ruffley (Assistant Chief Whip, Whips; Bury St Edmunds, Conservative)
I beg to move amendment No. 109, in clause 60, page 53, line 21, from 'order' to 'is' in line 25.
I meant to speak on clause 59 stand part, but I guess that I have missed my opportunity. However, I am sure that there will be ways of raising those issues at a later date.
The amendment has been tabled because of concern raised with Opposition Committee members by interested bodies about the effects of this clause. There is concern about the principle that local authorities should set their own penalty levels for dog-control offences. Before I get to the meat of the amendment, it might be sensible to make the remarks that I was going to make about clause 59. A real burden and additional administrative work would be imposed on local authorities as a result of this regime change. I think that we can all agree on that. The fear is that there would be pressure on local authorities to raise expenditure, to put it crudely, through the over-use of fixed-penalty notices. It would be disappointing to discover that local authorities thought that way, but we are aware of how certain constabularies use speed cameras as a means of revenue generation.
Sitting suspended for a Division in the House.
On resuming—