City of Westminster Bill [HL]

My Lords, I am grateful to my noble friend for advancing the Bill, and I am doubly grateful to the noble Lord, Lord Graham of Edmonton, for what he has just said. I agree with almost everything he said about sending a message that the House feels that the Bill is important. Although in essence it deals with a matter that may be seen as local to Westminster, it actually deals with something that is part of the heart of our experience of London and therefore, one way or another, is part of the life of tens of millions of people in this country when they visit London or come to Westminster from the other parts of London in which they live. It seems to me enormously important that markets should be allowed to flourish, particularly at times like these, and that they should be expanded. We have seen over the past 20 or 30 years the process of high streets becoming more and more boring, with just another edition of large chains, with every high street identical to every other. The difficulties of setting up a small shop, with the demands that landlords have been making and the requirements for rates and other regulations, have made it very difficult and often financially fatal for people to try to start small businesses in that way. Providing people with an opportunity to start trades off a barrow, as I think the original Sainsbury did, and then to grow from there, seems to me to be absolutely the right thing to be doing at this time. It is the right thing to do for the health of our high streets and for all our enjoyment and experience of shopping in the streets of London and elsewhere. It is a very important Bill and I hope that the Committee on the Bill will be brave in its defence of our enjoyment of London. There are times when Westminster City Council seems intent on prettifying and cleaning up London, rather than leaving it enjoyable, messy in corners, rumbustious, vital and alive. That is something to which we should feel able to raise objection. I have particular concerns about some aspects of this Bill, which gives very broad powers to the council, often with no clear reason. Doubts have been raised by the National Market Traders Federation and others about what these powers are required for, what the intention of the council is and whether it wants to clear away these inconvenient stalls into covered markets in recently redundant Woolworth premises or other properties. The council needs to justify why it wants powers of the breadth that it is applying for. There also seems to be in the Bill a lack of rights of appeal against council decisions. I find it immensely disturbing that a Conservative council should seek to go down that road. It seems to me fundamental that, where a Bill is capable of taking away people’s livelihoods, there should be a proper right of appeal, but the legislation does not seem to provide for compensation when someone’s livelihood is taken away. That is a fundamental part of the balance between the council and the market traders. If the council suffers nothing when it does damage to a market trader, it has no disincentive to act in that way. It can sweep away markets without any fear that it will suffer a result and therefore does not have an incentive to balance the arguments. If it has to pay proper compensation for doing something capriciously or out of turn, or for no good or compelling reason, it will think carefully before it does and will balance the arguments. At any rate, compensation is something that, again, should be in this sort of legislation. The Bill removes the familic right of succession, which I think is a terrible thing to do. A lot of these pitches have run in families for a long time. It is true that markets should be open to new entrants but perhaps the council should accommodate that by increasing the number of pitches. If there is a demand for people to trade in that way and a demand from the users of the City of Westminster to buy in that way, perhaps the council should look at opening additional pitches. It should not deprive families of a right and an interest that they have had for generations. The noble Lord’s party legislated—I suspect against the opposition of these Benches—to give that right to farm tenants, although I do not think that anyone on these Benches would take that away from them. I very much hope that this Government will set their mind against depriving market traders of similar intergenerational interest and will recognise that it is part of our national life. The Bill also seeks to control the types of goods sold. What makes Westminster the best judge of what kind of goods should be sold in a market or of how many stalls in a market should sell particular types of goods? It does not particularly control that on a high street; it certainly does not tell Tesco what it should sell. On what basis does the council want those powers? I can understand that there might be some such control by some landlords exercising this power in a mall, but the level of control sought by the council seems to be excessive. Most of all, I am surprised that the council should have brought this Bill before us with such a level of disagreement from the National Market Traders Federation. I do not see why that body, which cannot be well funded—certainly not as well funded as the City of Westminster—should have to argue this out in a public forum rather than being properly consulted and properly engaged in the preparation of the Bill. It is not an inimical organisation; it is quite capable of reaching a proper compromise. The Bill should have reached us with only a few matters outstanding and not the wholesale objection raised by the National Market Traders Federation. Perhaps I should say something nice about Westminster. I am quite happy with its provision for crunching hot-dog trolleys. They seem to be a nuisance but, again, perhaps I may express my disappointment: these trolleys exist because people want access to refreshment on the street. There are many other cities in Europe where it is easy to find refreshment on the street of great variety and great quality. Westminster is saying, "No, you can’t have anything", and is clamping down on what is available. I agree that what is available is pretty disgusting, but why not, instead, let a contract to Heston Blumenthal or someone similar? If he can take on Little Chef, surely he would take on hot-dog trolleys. Westminster should get some decent catering out there on the streets in the way that people who use the area want. As I said, Westminster as a city should not be free of smells; it should be full of wonderful smells, and I hope that we would encourage Westminster to take a positive, constructive and inventive attitude towards improving the city, rather than thinking of it as something on the front of the proverbial chocolate box and not to be disturbed by human activity. I hope that the Committee will take a gentle attitude towards the petition by the pedlars. These days, when people who are not well organised or well represented approach this House asking to be heard, we should treat that approach as generously as possible and not try to default them on a technicality. If their arguments do not apply, we can disregard them but we should hear them.