Clause 1 - Road safety grants
Road Safety Bill [Lords]
10:45 am
Owen Paterson (Shadow Minister, Transport; North Shropshire, Conservative)
We get off to fairly easy bowling in this clause. We do not disagree hugely with it and we have tabled three amendments of a probing nature.The clause says that payments will be made by a national transport authority to local authorities for the purposes of promoting road safety. The Opposition would like to know what will happen to the funds that are allocated by central Government to local government agencies for road safety. We have received representations from a number of groups that are alarmed because local authorities, knowing that fresh funds will come in through the conduit provided by the clause, might be given the chance to cut their road safety budgets. It would be helpful if the Minister said what sums are going to local authorities, how they are distributed at the moment and under what conditions, and how he envisages the new funds being disbursed. How will the process be decided and audited?
Through amendment No. 15 we are seeking to examine whether it is possible for the funds to be spent beyond the bounds of local authorities. Could they be disbursed to smaller agencies—such as parish councils and town councils—with the approval of the local authority, which is probably in charge of speed limits at county level, and has an overall county view on them? We should like to know how the funds will be distributed and what consultation there will be between the local transport authority and the relevant national authorities.
On amendment No. 16, we are aware that some authorities will be part of safety camera partnerships, because there are local authorities that comprise constituent parts of such partnerships. The amendment is quite deliberate, however, because we should really like to see localism on the issue. We think that there is merit in schools having ability to access funds for local speed limits. Some interesting work has been done in Canada, where there are quite tight speed limits around schools at certain times of day, and that is widely known and displayed in notices that are rather like the parking restriction notices that we see in our cities. The notices indicate at what time of day one is not allowed to go above a certain speed near a school.
I believe that there is merit in localism for the issue of road safety. When I drive from my home to Oswestry I go past a primary school where there is a very narrow road and a narrow pavement. The statutory limit of 30 mph is wrong in that location, because when cars are parked up—with little parking space—it is not sensible to go at that speed. It is well worth investigating the idea that such schools should discuss with the local authority—as proposed in amendment No. 15—the merits of a localised limit.
There are numerous parish councils in my constituency and I am sure that my hon. Friends from suburban and urban seats could speak for town councils. The same idea could apply to those councils. There are areas where local people have strong feelings about the issue, and relatively small sums can make a big difference.
The obvious vehicle for such a measure is an automatic sign. In fact, on my way to a meeting in Portcullis House this morning, I was clocked by one in the passageway between Speaker’s Court and New Palace Yard. It got me doing 5 mph—walking. The big red sign displaying the number five brought me up. We all have these signs in our constituencies. This is anecdotal, but numerous people have told me that flashing signs that tell the exact speed do have an impact on people’s driving behaviour. I have heard it too often for it not to be true. Surely it would be meritorious to have a serious look at allowing parish councils or town councils to apply for funding for such modest schemes. Perhaps the Minister will tell us how much self-illuminating signs cost and his opinion of them.
Amendment No. 16 clearly suggests that we would like to go beyond local authorities. We are nervous that local authorities will be able to grab the money and allocate funds that were previously dedicated to transport issues and road safety to another pot. I would like the Minister’s reassurance on that matter.
I like the idea of localism. When the sentiments behind amendments Nos. 15 and. 16 were debated last summer—my right hon. Friend the member for East Yorkshire will confirm this—then Minister, Mr Jamieson, claimed that they were incompatible. That is not the case; this is deliberate.
I would really like some localism and local decision making. Such an approach would also have an impact on local opinion. If people felt that there was funding available for tiny schemes, such as putting some signs around a school or erecting a self-illuminating sign, it would be beneficial.
I would also like to move amendment No. 17, partly picked up in Brake’s submission on the proposed amendments. That organisation called for an annual report—