Policing and Crime Bill

My Lords, I do not work on my own, rather like the Minister. Amendments 113A and 125L were suggested by the Local Government Association and relate to its concerns about the limitations on the role of a licensing authority member in objecting to various licences, including temporary activities. Under current legislation, a named constituent or the police may raise an objection but a councillor or licensing authority cannot do so of their own accord. Would not extending this right address the Government’s concern, stated in earlier debates, that local residents might not see a licence application in time to object or might not realise that their concerns could be addressed? These amendments would also deal with the concern that local residents might be intimidated by the public complaints procedure, especially when expressing concerns about, for example, the prevalence of drug-dealing at a club. Although anonymous complaints bring with them their own problems, such as giving vindictive or unjustified objections a platform, these problems are not insurmountable. After all, local authorities are well used to dealing with vexatious objections to planning applications. I understand that there are arguments against these amendments, particularly the possibility that the licensing authority would end up having the roles of both raising the objection and deciding on its validity, but it appears that in many cases normal practice is for a member of the local authority to go informally to the police to request an objection to get round that restriction, which seems to me rather silly. Have the Government considered seeking other ways to prevent any unfairness, perhaps by ensuring that members of the appointed committee who will be looking at the objection do not include the objecting member? Again, cannot we have a bit of joined-up government here? During the Recess, I had occasion to go to, but not speak at, a public meeting of the local planning committee. Relevant interests were declared by both local and county councillors, and the former was prohibited from voting for or against the proposal by the chairman. Surely this would be a sensible way to proceed in licensing cases. I beg to move.