City of Westminster Bill [HL]

My Lords, we are becoming used to these borough and city council Bills, having seen several of them in the past few years, including the Bournemouth Borough Council Bill and the Manchester City Council Bill. We support the right of councils to bring forward measures to regulate street trading. Nevertheless, the Select Committee on the Bournemouth Borough Council Bill and the Manchester City Council Bill expressed concern about, ""the use of piecemeal private legislation to remedy perceived problems in national legislation"." It recommended that, ""the Government should undertake an urgent review of the law on trading in the streets and selling from door to door with a view to producing national legislation which reflects current conditions"." I quite understand that I cannot necessarily expect the Minister to answer questions today on this Private Bill, but it would be helpful to know whether the Government have given any more thought to the Select Committee’s recommendations on those earlier Bills, and whether any action has been taken in this regard. The Select Committee also proposed that the promoters of those Bills undertake to give particular attention to the training of the officers charged with the enforcement of the legislation so that genuine pedlars operating under it are not prevented from carrying on their trade. Once again, it would be helpful if the Minister could tell us what progress has been made in that area. As I have said, we support the right of local councils to amend street trading controls as appropriate. At the same time, however, we are concerned that street traders and pedlars—as the noble Lord, Lord Graham, has said, they are two rather different groups, and it would be wrong to confuse them—who operate lawfully and are appreciated and valued by members of their communities and the public generally should not be unduly restricted, stigmatised or criminalised. During the debate in another place on the Manchester City Council Bill, my honourable friend Mr Christopher Chope argued that, ""the Bills seek to penalise the lawful pedlar and take away the rights that he has had since legislation was introduced in 1871".—[Official Report, Commons, 29/10/08; col. 960.]" The Explanatory Note to the City of Westminster Bill says that Clause 19 gives, ""general discretionary grounds for refusal of an application for a licence"." These include, ""the convenience or safety of people using the street … the applicant’s suitability to hold a licence"," and, ""the diversity of items on sale and services provided by street traders and other retailers in the area"." These provisions present the flexibility which my noble friend Lady Gardner has helpfully described. We support her desire to reduce illegal street trading, particularly if it could be construed as a public nuisance or even a public danger. We are, however, concerned to ensure that lawful traders and pedlars are protected, so while I, like other noble Lords, look forward to seeing the results of the Select Committee’s deliberations, I wonder whether in the mean time my noble friend could reassure your Lordships about the safeguards in the Bill to ensure that these lawful activities are protected. I conclude by thank my noble friend for putting this Bill forward and for her eloquent use of words.