Part of Clean Neighbourhoods and Environment Bill – in a Public Bill Committee at 4:30 pm on 20 January 2005.
Anne McIntosh
Shadow Minister (Environment, Food and Rural Affairs), Shadow Minister (Transport)
4:30,
20 January 2005
I understand from the explanatory notes that the purpose of Clause 33 is to
''remove the requirement for a local authority to prove that a person consented to the display of an advertisement in contravention of regulations.''
That obviously firms up what the Minister seeks to do with the current provisions. Has the Minister received representations from the National Farmers Union or from other similar organisations? The NFU is concerned about where the presumption will lie in subsection (3). In the subsection, which will be inserted into the Town and Country Planning Act 1990, there is a requirement that any unauthorised advertisement should be removed.
The Minister will understand that in deeply rural areas such as the Vale of York, where we still have large arable farms, the farmers work land that is widely distributed, not always easily accessible, and often divided by a major road artery such as the A1 or the A19. Consequently, they might not visit as frequently as the Department expects. Those farmers may therefore not be aware of an illegal advert, will certainly not have given their consent to its being there, and probably do not have the time or tools to remove it once it is discovered. The NFU asks whether the Department is aware of the difficulties that might be faced in implementing that subsection, and that it should be applied reasonably to take account of such difficulties.
We see what the Minister is trying to do, and that the current law has presented difficulties for local authorities because they have had to prove that the person concerned knew of, and consented to the display of the advertisement, which has made it hard to secure convictions. Will the Minister assure us that he understands that the subsection could inadvertently pose real problems for farming communities such as those that I represent. There are not too many hills in my Constituency—hence the name the Vale of York—but there are outlying farms in the Howardian hills, and they will face difficulties with conforming to the provision, particularly in the winter. I hope that the Minister will have regard to those points.
A parliamentary bill is divided into sections called clauses.
Printed in the margin next to each clause is a brief explanatory `side-note' giving details of what the effect of the clause will be.
During the committee stage of a bill, MPs examine these clauses in detail and may introduce new clauses of their own or table amendments to the existing clauses.
When a bill becomes an Act of Parliament, clauses become known as sections.
A parliamentary bill is divided into sections called clauses.
Printed in the margin next to each clause is a brief explanatory `side-note' giving details of what the effect of the clause will be.
During the committee stage of a bill, MPs examine these clauses in detail and may introduce new clauses of their own or table amendments to the existing clauses.
When a bill becomes an Act of Parliament, clauses become known as sections.
Ministers make up the Government and almost all are members of the House of Lords or the House of Commons. There are three main types of Minister. Departmental Ministers are in charge of Government Departments. The Government is divided into different Departments which have responsibilities for different areas. For example the Treasury is in charge of Government spending. Departmental Ministers in the Cabinet are generally called 'Secretary of State' but some have special titles such as Chancellor of the Exchequer. Ministers of State and Junior Ministers assist the ministers in charge of the department. They normally have responsibility for a particular area within the department and are sometimes given a title that reflects this - for example Minister of Transport.
In a general election, each Constituency chooses an MP to represent them. MPs have a responsibility to represnt the views of the Constituency in the House of Commons. There are 650 Constituencies, and thus 650 MPs. A citizen of a Constituency is known as a Constituent
