Local Democracy, Economic Development and Construction Bill [HL]

I apologise to the Committee; I have been in another committee and have only just arrived, but am very glad that I am in time to support the noble Lord, Lord Graham. He mentioned Berwick-upon-Tweed; I came into contact with this because I married the Member of Parliament for Berwick-upon-Tweed, who has been very supportive of the noble Lord. Since I have lived there, I have been a member of the borough council. We work very closely with the freemen in Berwick, which is a large group. I was particularly interested in the noble Lord’s comments about how important they are to the life of a town and how they are part of the community. They certainly are in Berwick-upon-Tweed. They own quite a lot of the land there and have also instigated some very good affordable housing for older people in the borough. Indeed, until we had problems because of disability access to the town hall, the borough council met in the town hall, which is owned by the borough freemen. We are trying to find a way of getting disabled access into this very old building. The noble Lord, Lord Graham, was right that the Bill is about trying to get people more involved and about how local communities work. I can vouch for the fact that borough freemen are very involved in their local community. It is also important for other parts of what the noble Lord, Lord Graham, said, because local government is being reorganised in Northumberland. The borough council, where we have had the mayoralty and so on, and where we have been able to make honorary members in the borough, will disappear and a town council will be elected. If it can carry on that sort of tradition, people in Berwick will be very pleased. There are several things that people worry about in losing borough status, and some of the things that cannot go to the new unitary authority are very important to local people and how they view their community. I am very pleased to be able to support what the noble Lord is saying, and I hope that the Government can accept the amendment. It is perfectly in tune with what they are trying to do in local communities—to make people feel that there are different ways in which they can take part in their community. I wish him luck.