Orders of the Day — Local Government (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill

Part of the debate – in the House of Commons at 5:31 pm on 25 November 1981.

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Photo of Mr Geoffrey Dickens Mr Geoffrey Dickens , Huddersfield West 5:31, 25 November 1981

Of course, that trader will not be in his place the next day, when he is wanted. Hon. Members should be wary of street traders because Christmas is approaching and such traders will be all over the place. Between the extremes there are so-called streets of consent—[Interruption.] At the risk of going into the details—[Interruption.] I must press on with this responsible contribution. Streets of consent need the consent of the local authority. However, there is the disadvantage that areas for stalls cannot be designated in the streets. Therefore, it is not such an orderly system as the licence system.

Ultimately, the public could be protected if street traders were registered for VAT. Some of them might claim that they did not earn enough money to pay VAT. That does not matter. If they are registered, they must stand examination of their books. The production of that certificate would satisfy the public that they are bona fide traders. That would also help in terms of the local authority examination. The Minister might like to consider that idea, but I do not put if forward for inclusion in the Bill.

As the Bill explains, clause 1 covers the following aspects: public entertainments involving music, dancing, boxing, wrestling". As we have heard, those provisions have been in existence since 1965 in the GLC area and they seem to working well. I can see no dispute about them. Such provisions are welcome.

Clause 3 is a variation of the Late Night Refreshment Houses Act 1969. It deals with the closing hours of refreshment premises. I am sorry that I cannot agree with my hon. Friend the Member for Shipley. The purpose of the legislation is to give the district power to make a closing order. However, such orders will be made only if establishments are causing a nuisance or a disturbance. That often happens with premises that trade very late at night. They start as modest, sensible establishments for take-away food, but their popularity gradually grows and cars leave public houses en route for the take-away shop. Car doors bang late at night, rubbish is strewn all over the pavements and cans are kicked around. We seek only a provision to enable local residents to protest.

There are protections. The provision extends only to those premises that open between 11 pm and 5 am. The Bill seeks to give a form of protection that would last for three years. It would be possible to close a premises or to make a variation of the conditions. If applied, the order could even be revoked. As a further safeguard, there is an appeals structure. Therefore, local authorities will not be too heavy handed. Where they have cause for complaint, local residents will be up in arms. If they have such cause for complaint, it must be asked whether the disturbance is reasonable and whether the residents should have to tolerate it. Therefore, the legislation is sensible and there is nothing wrong with it.

The Bill does not provide for any central Government expenditure. That is probably why the Opposition are not too excited about it and have been co-operative. I was most impressed by the contribution made by the hon. Member for Halifax. It was a statesmanlike speech from the Opposition Front Bench and I enjoyed listening to it. However, I did not agree with her about local government having to fork out money for such things. In my intervention, I sought to point out that inspectors, such as public health inspectors, often go to refreshment and dining establishments in the course of their work to ensure that standards are being maintained and so on. While they are there they can check about the licence.

Therefore, there is no great financial consideration other than that it will probably save local government money if they do not apply for separate legislation. I hope that many local authorities will withdraw their applications and rely on the Bill. I shall not speak further as many hon. Members are dying to make contributions. I do not want hon. Members to be here all night. I think that I have made my points rather well and I shall leave it at that.