Local Democracy, Economic Development and Construction Bill [Lords]

This group of amendments focuses on the local democracy section of the Bill, and we can tell from the lively nature of the debate just how passionately right hon. and hon. Members feel about the issue. Speaking of passion, I shall start with new clause 10, tabled by my hon. Friend the Member for Manchester, Blackley (Graham Stringer), which deals with referendums. It is identical to an amendment that we debated in Committee. As I explained during that debate, the principal local authorities in England currently enjoy considerable flexibility to hold advisory referendums and local polls using their powers under section 116 of the Local Government Act 2003. That power is widely drawn, and it gives councils maximum freedom and flexibility to hold referendums on any issue relating to their functions or their powers of well-being, as set out in the Local Government Act 2000. The existing power to hold referendums has been used many times by councils to seek the views of their communities on matters of local interest. For example, the London borough of Sutton council is currently holding a local poll on whether to keep a piece of graffiti that was produced by a well-known graffiti artist. I am not sure whether the referendum on the Manchester congestion charge was held under that legislation, but my hon. Friend discussed that matter. The use of this power could increase as a result of the petitions clauses in this Bill. Through our proposed petition scheme in part 1 of the Bill, councils might well decide to hold a local poll as part of their substantive response, as required by clause 14, to a petition with the specified number of signatures. We would welcome such a development as an appropriate means of involving local communities in a council's decision-making process. That is, of course, if councils choose to make greater use of the power as part of their response to petitions. At the heart of these debates lies the issue of local democratically elected bodies having the power to choose whether they want to hold referendums. While the petitions provided for in chapter 2 of part 1 of the Bill, and the existing powers in section 116 of the Local Government Act 2003, permit councils to hold such referendums, the new clause would require them to set up a facility and agree a scheme for holding them. Councils would also be required to hold a referendum in circumstances set out in their referendum schemes. The new clause would therefore impose an additional uncosted burden on councils. As I made clear in Committee, we believe that accepting the new clause as it stands would be a step too far. Yes, we require councils to carry out certain actions in relation to petitions, but we do not adopt the same approach to the holding of referendums. Some might say that that is contradictory, but I say that the two issues are very different. Our approach to petitions in chapter 2 rightly addresses the issues identified by the Local Government Association survey, which found that only 28 per cent. of the 102 councils that responded guarantee an automatic response to petitions submitted by the public.