Local Transport Bill [HL]

I am grateful to the noble Earl, Lord Attlee, and I entirely agree that neighbouring local authorities should have a right of appeal against a decision by the Approvals Board, whether that is a decision to approve a scheme, to reject it or to modify it in a way that might affect that other local authority. However, my point today is that that is already provided for. Section 125(3) of the Transport Act 2000 requires the local authority proposing the scheme to consult other authorities that might be affected by the scheme, and any person who was consulted in accordance with Section 125(3) has a right of appeal under new Section 126D. Regarding the continuation of a scheme, this requirement also applies by virtue of new Section 131A(4), to be inserted by Clause 29, with a parallel right of appeal in new Section 131D. A neighbouring authority—that is, one with a common boundary to the authority making the scheme—would normally be affected by it and would fall to be consulted under Section 125(3). It would therefore have a right to appeal. But that might not always be the case, because if the scheme was fairly small, and based at one end of the county, it might have no impact at all on a county bordering at the other end. For example, would Essex County Council be affected by a quality contracts scheme promoted by Suffolk that only affected the area, say, around Lowestoft? Conversely, a local authority that does not have a common boundary with the one making the scheme might be affected by it, particularly where there are small unitary authorities. Travel-to-work patterns can cross more than one boundary. The wording in the Transport Act 2000 would catch them too. Apart from the specified consultees, there is a general category of, "““such other persons as the Authority thinks fit””." That could include a local authority that is not directly affected by a scheme, but which might, nevertheless, as the noble Earl has said, have a legitimate interest and valid observations to make. My view, therefore, is that the powers in Clauses 24 and 32 are just as wide as they need to be; to go further would be to risk the appeal process getting out of control. I therefore hope that I can persuade the noble Lord to withdraw this amendment.