I thank noble Lords for contributing to this short debate. I apologise at the outset for my speed of delivery. I must slow down; I will slow down. I promise the noble Lord, Lord Tunnicliffe, that, next time I give an opening speech, I will slow down, enunciate and break for breath every now and again.
Some important points have been raised, which I hope to cover. I will write, of course, because I suspect that I will not be able to answer a couple of things in full. I am grateful for the broad welcome for these regulations. I accept that they have been a long time coming, particularly given that the Traffic Management Act was enacted in 2004. Then there was the issue of commencing Part 6. The delay in commencing that part and in putting these regulations before the Committee is partly down to the pressures of the pandemic; it has been a little busy in the Department for Transport. We wanted to get this right, recognising that it will be up to local authorities to put this into operation. They, too, have been suffering from a lack of time and resources during the pandemic.
We did crack on with it when we felt that things looked a little more positive but we had an issue with the JCSI, which was alluded to by my noble friend Lady McIntosh of Pickering. An error was discovered in the affirmative SI, which meant that we withdrew it and then re-laid it with the error resolved. It did not have an impact on the date of its coming into force, so it did not have an impact on the whole process of what was going to happen, but we are grateful to the JCSI for its work on finding the error because it would have been unforgivable for that to have got on to the statute book.
On the issues relating to the JCSI vires, I might write with a little more detail, perhaps to explain why we slightly differ from the JCSI and how we propose to respond to it. I believe that we will make some changes at the earliest opportunity; potentially, there is an opportunity to make a change in the first designation order, which will come soon.
On the point raised by my noble friend Lady McIntosh on resources, cameras and the gubbins that will have to be in place to operationalise these regulations, we
know that some places have already put them in place. We know that London already does it but, let us face it, London is not really like everywhere else. But one might look at Cardiff. For example, in Wales, the Welsh Government commenced the Part 6 powers back in 2013 and, to date, Cardiff City Council and Carmarthenshire have acquired the designation of those powers. In Cardiff, we have a little bit of visibility about how they did it, how much it cost them and what the impact was on their budgets. The council’s latest Annual Park and Traffic Enforcement Report for 2018-19 confirms the following. For the first full year of enforcement, which was actually 2016-17—it is a little while ago, but that was its first full year, and it is the most up to date that we have—it ended up with a combined income of around £3.4 million and a total expenditure of £5.6 million, including parking. We estimate that it probably spent around £3.7 million on bus lane and moving traffic enforcement. So that was a deficit of about £0.3 million. We would expect that, in most circumstances, after the first year when things have settled down, you would end up with a surplus. As I explained in my opening remarks, that surplus can be used only on very specific things.
There is also the issue to consider, if a local authority is putting something in place, that we have said that within the first six months there will be warning notices rather than fines to be paid for any individual attracting a contravention at a particular camera. So that will reduce the income. It is also worth recognising that many of the set-up costs will be one-off costs. There will be ongoing maintenance costs for the CCTV, but they will usually be one-off costs, which can be met more than over just the first year. On the flip side, we know that costs will be mitigated somewhat by the slight increase to the bus lane penalties.
In general, in our new burdens assessment, we suggested that there was no additional burden to local authorities by implementing these regulations, and the Local Government Association did not object to the new burdens assessment. So I think either it will work out cost neutral or there will be a surplus which, as discussed, will be used only for certain areas. I take the point about some sites being very non-compliant and therefore attracting large numbers of fines. Of course, we will make it clear in the guidance how local authorities should deal with those sites. We want the cameras to be in problem sites but, clearly, there will be areas where they can improve their highways layout or, indeed, their traffic signage to make people understand exactly what has happened.
To go back to my noble friend’s question about cameras, those that are used for moving traffic contraventions must be certified by the Vehicle Certification Agency. We have very specific cameras that are certified by the VCA, and we certify cameras at no charge to the LA—the department bears the cost. We have a specific fund from which we draw down. But it is local authorities that are responsible for paying for the cameras and then putting them in place, so it is up to them.
That slightly leads on to the point raised by the noble Baroness, Lady Scott. The guidance that we will complete will set out all sorts of things in relation to operating these regulations appropriately. I have mentioned
those areas where there is lots of contravention. We have worked closely with the sector on the development of the detailed statutory guidance. We have had input from a wide range of stakeholders, including the motoring groups—the RAC and the AA have been very involved—and local government: the Local Government Association and local councils. We have also been in touch with and talked to active travel groups, including Sustrans, British Cycling and Living Streets, as well as the British Parking Association and the Traffic Penalty Tribunal. Clearly, we have to get this guidance right. We need to make sure we have the right level of enforcement and in the right places.
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The noble Baroness mentioned the warning letter and asked why it is a six-month thing. It is for many reasons. At the heart of this, drivers should be following the signs anyway. If they have committed a contravention at some stage, they really should pay a penalty for it. When we looked at how long you could keep it for, there were two issues. The first is that to operationalise holding such a significant amount of data was quite tricky. There was also a GDPR consideration: you cannot hold people’s data for a vast period of time unless you are going to do something with it. We felt that six months was entirely reasonable, so that is why we landed on that.
I am grateful to the noble Lord, Lord Tunnicliffe, for standing in to do this statutory instrument, possibly at short notice. He asked for categorical confirmation that this was a uniform set of regulations that covered all the representations and appeals for all the different contraventions. I really want to say yes, because I think it is. However, I am fairly sure it will be “yes, but”, so I will write with further details as to whether there is any “but” and what currently falls out. The good thing is that we have consolidated bus lanes, parking and moving traffic, but something might have fallen through the gaps.
The timeline will depend very much on local authorities. Should these regulations be approved by your Lordships’ House, they will come into force on 31 May. We will be receiving applications from local authorities, but of course they will have to have done their consultation beforehand, which will take time. They will then apply to the department, and we will put them into groups and bring them through in designation orders in groups. It will not happen immediately and, through the consultation, residents in local areas will know that changes are afoot. People who are not from that area potentially will not, but they should be compliant with local traffic laws anyway. If in future they get a penalty charge notice from a local authority, it will specifically say on it where they can find out more information about representations, appeals and, for example, the 50% discount. All those things will be set out on the penalty charge notice, as they often are now for parking fines.
I cannot really say when I expect the first designation order to come through. I certainly expect that it will be this year, but I have not had an update as to how many local authorities have been in touch to say that they are pressing ahead quickly with this. I know that local authorities really want these powers and I think they
will make their lives easier, particularly as we take forward the measures in the national bus strategy, which are so important.
The noble Lord, Lord Tunnicliffe, finished by mentioning the private parking consultation. I may write to him on that to make sure I have covered the question he raised. Otherwise, I commend these regulations to the Committee.