Clause 4 - Procedure for dealing with complaints

Part of High Hedges (No. 2) Bill – in a Public Bill Committee at 2:45 pm on 7 May 2003.

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Photo of James Purnell James Purnell Labour, Stalybridge and Hyde 2:45, 7 May 2003

Is my hon. Friend aware that there was a similar power in, I think, the Greater Manchester Act 1981, which was abolished when the various Acts that related to the powers for town councils were rolled into the Local Government (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 1982? As I understand the matter, the powers to do with overshadowing trees were omitted—perhaps by accident, although no one quite knows why. That power was successful in Manchester and did not lead to any of the complications that hon. Members were worried about on Second Reading. Therefore, far from being a dangerous innovation, the Bill returns us to a state of grace that happened to exist in Manchester in the early 1980s.