UK Parliament / Open data

City of Westminster Bill [HL]

My Lords, given my knowledge of the procedures of this House, I realise that the Bill will be very closely scrutinised in the appropriate Committee. However, this Second Reading provides us with an opportunity to canter over the course. I declare interests: some years ago I was the parliamentary consultant to the National Market Traders Federation. Like other joint presidents of London Councils, the noble Baroness, Lady Hamwee, and the noble Lord, Lord Jenkin, I am interested in London affairs. Besides that, of course, I represented Edmonton, which has a fine market, and nearby Enfield has a charter market. Modestly, I say simply that I have an interest in this Bill. The size of the Bill is 50 pages and, frankly and sincerely, it is full of good stuff; it is what a local council ought to be doing to ensure a marriage of the interests it seeks to serve. The electorate put the council in place, but my caveat is that, although the noble Baroness was fair to point out the range of matters included, she referred to the National Market Traders Federation. When I saw the Bill I asked the federation, "Let me have a general note". The note I received stated: ""It is feared that the trade and interests that the NMTF represents and the property rights and interest of its members would be injuriously affected by the provisions of the bill. There are concerns over almost all the aspects of the bill but in particular the provisions relating to rescission and variation of designating resolutions and designating alternative sites"." Undoubtedly, the members of the committee will have their hands full when trying to reconcile these issues. My main point, which I hope bears fruit with Westminster City Council, is that we live in a unique age at a unique stage of development. I have no objection to a council periodically, especially this council—which as the noble Baroness pointed out has within its environment a number of fine and heavily trafficated areas—protecting major matters of interest. However, it should be very careful regarding people’s livelihoods and, in fact, their lives. Throughout the country many people are losing their jobs and livelihoods, and no market trader has a prescriptive right to remain on the same spot as where his father or grandfather stood for many years to continue the same trade in the same circumstances. However, the council should think twice before taking any action that would deprive an existing market trader of his opportunity to continue. I looked at the Bill quickly and at the clause that deals with succession. One of the vexed issues that I discovered during my time was passing on the licence from a father or mother to a son. The licence is very precious—it is their licence to live, as well as to trade. A lot of stuff in the Bill will come back to us. Reference was made to the activities of pedlars, who need to be more strictly controlled here and elsewhere than they have been. There have been attempts to bring up to date the Pedlars Act, but some authorities have been forced to take their own action. In my view, this is an issue of national interest. I was delighted when I saw that on Thursday 26 March, the noble Lord, Lord Lee of Trafford, has a Question, ""to ask Her Majesty's Government what advice they are giving to local authorities to promote the development of markets as an alternative to high street shopping"." I see markets not as an alternative to high-street shopping, but as part of the shopping scene. There ought to be a strategy locally, especially where they exist, to make sure that markets, which have been with us for hundreds if not thousands of years, are not driven underground. There is a fear among members of the National Market Traders Federation about the way in which the supermarkets and the new forms of trading are being advanced. I happen to know that, because I am on Edmonton Green market quite regularly. It is a changing scene, with different traders and different composition on the green. There is a massive supermarket there, and I say good luck to it, because competition is the spice of life. The only word that I shall say to Westminster Council and its advisers in the Committee is that they should bear in mind that this is not just a question of a piece of legislation. I was the leader of a London council many years ago. One needs to have regard to the fact that the vibrancy of a community is very often enhanced by the ability of its market to survive and trade. I wish the Bill well in its progress into Committee. In Committee, the National Market Traders Federation will have an opportunity to put its points across, and I wish it well.
Type
Proceeding contribution
Reference
708 c1447-9 
Session
2008-09
Chamber / Committee
House of Lords chamber
Back to top