A

BILL
[AS AMENDED IN COMMITTEE]

EXPLANATORY MEMORANDUM

PART 1

PRELIMINARY

Clause 1 deals with citation and commencement. It provides that the operative provisions of the Bill will come into operation two months after Royal Assent. Clauseð ñ2 sets out definitions of certain expressions used in the Bill.

PART 2

PENALTY CHARGES

Part 4 of the London Local Authorities Act 2007 sets out a regime, applicable throughout Greater London, which enables London borough councils to use a civil penalty charge procedure for the enforcement of a number of offences, which themselves were decriminalised by the 2007 Act. Part 4 of the 2007 Act was drafted in such a way that future enactments could decriminalise other offences and make them subject to the detailed procedures set out in Part 4.

Clauses 3 and 4 make general provision about the procedure for penalty charge notices under Part 4 of the London Local Authorities Act 2007.

Clause 3 extends the powers of police community support officers and accredited persons under Schedule 4 and Schedule 5 to the Police Reform Act 2002. That Act has the effect of enabling them to serve penalty charge notices and fixed penalty notices in relation to a number of offences. Clause 3 would have the effect of enabling them to serve penalty charge notices in respect of penalty charges which become payable under Part 4 of the London Local Authorities Act 2007.

Clause 4 provides London borough councils, authorised officers of London borough councils, community support officers and accredited persons with powers to require a person on whom they intend to serve a penalty charge notice to give them his name and address, in cases where a penalty charge notice is to be served under section 61 of the London Local Authorities Act 2007. If the requirement is made in person by an authorised officer of a council, then he must show proof of his authorisation. It is an offence to fail to give a name and address or to give a false or inaccurate name or address in response to a requirement under Clause 4.

PART 3

PUBLIC HEALTH, ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AND HIGHWAYS

Part 3 contains a number of miscellaneous provisions relating to public health, environmental protection and highways.

Clause 5 makes provision about street litter control notices. Street litter control notices are notices served under section 93 of the Environmental Protection Act 1990. They can be served by the principal litter authority (in London, the borough council) imposing requirements on occupiers of premises with a view to the prevention of accumulations of litter or refuse in and around any street or open land adjacent to any street. Under section 94 of the 1990 Act, the Secretary of State is given power to prescribe the descriptions of commercial or retail premises in respect of which a street litter control notice may be issued, amongst other things. The effect of Clause 5 would be to extend the type of premises which the Secretary of State can prescribe under section 94 so that it includes all premises in Greater London except for dwellings. This will bring into the scope of the street litter control notice procedures public buildings and other buildings which are not commercial or retail premises. The amount of litter generated by smokers who are no longer able to smoke inside places of work is one of the reasons for this proposed alteration in the legislation in London.

Clause 6 amends the application of the Public Lavatories (Turnstiles) Act 1963 in Greater London. Section 1(1) of that Act provides that every turnstile in any part of a public lavatory or public sanitary convenience controlled or managed by a local authority or in any entrance or exit of such lavatory or convenience had to be removed six months after the 1963 Act obtained Royal Assent. It also provided that no turnstile should be provided in the future. Clause 6 disapplies those provisions in Greater London.

Clause 7 alters provisions in the Highways Act 1980 which enable local authorities to give permissions for the use of objects, etc. on the highway. Part VIIA of the 1980 Act was inserted by the Local Government Miscellaneous Provisions Act 1982 and it enables the councils themselves to place objects or structures on, in or over a highway and also give permission to others to do so. Section 115E of the 1980 Act is the provision which enables the councils to give such permissions to others and section 115F enables the councils to place conditions on any permission given under section 115E. It provides that the councils can require the payment of such reasonable charges as they may determine. Subsection (2) of section 115F provides that except where the council are the owners of the sub-soil beneath the part of the highway in relation to which the permission is granted, the charges may not exceed the standard amount and the "standard amount" is defined in subsection (3) of section 115F. In turn that provides that in relation to permissions given to others to place objects on the highway, the charges that the council may make must not exceed their reasonable expenses in connection with granting the permission (in other words their administrative charges).

Clause 7 would allow London borough councils to take into account additional considerations when setting the level of charges in relation to cases where they have given their permission under section 115E(1)(b)(i), namely where they have given permission for the placing of objects on the highway where doing so will result in the production of income. A typical example of when this might happen is where the Council has given permission for a restaurant to place tables and chairs on the highway. Clause 7 would enable the council, when setting the charges, to include in their calculations reasonable costs in the aggregate incurred in relation to the reasonable administrative or other costs incurred in granting permissions, additional street cleansing costs arising from activities for which permission is granted, and additional enforcement costs.

PART 4

LICENSING

Part 4 deals with various miscellaneous licensing regimes applicable in Greater London.

Clause 8 amends the City of Westminster Act 1996 which provides Westminster City Council with enhanced enforcement powers in relation to unlicensed sex establishments. The first amendment is a minor typographical amendment and the second amends section 8 of the 1996 Act, which relates to the service of notices. Under section 8, if notices under the Act are to be served by post, then they have to be served by registered post or the recorded delivery service. The amendments would enable notices to be served by ordinary post.

Clause 9 makes further provision about street trading, in relation to the sale of vehicles over the internet. Under the existing street trading legislation in London, "street trading" is defined, broadly speaking, as meaning the selling or the exposure or offer for sale of any article and the supplying of or offering to supply any service in a street for gain or reward (whether or not the gain or reward accrues to the person actually carrying out the trading). Under that definition it is unclear whether the sale of motor vehicles on the internet, where the vehicle is kept on the highway, is included and the effect of Clause 9 will be to ensure that it is.

Clauses 10 to 12 deal with street trading in the City of Westminster. Westminster City Council have their own private legislation, namely the City of Westminster Act 1999 which deals with street trading in the City.

It should be noted that since the deposit of this Bill, the council have deposited a further private bill which if enacted would repeal the 1999 Act and re-enact it with amendments, including amendments equivalent to those described in the following paragraphs.

Clause 10 contains a number of amendments to the 1999 Act. The first amendments of substance are in subsections (3) to (5) and they replicate in Westminster the effect of the amendments which are made by Clause 9 (street trading: vehicles and the internet) in respect of the rest of London (except for the City of London).

Taken together, subsections (6) to (18) introduce a series of amendments which will enable authorised officers of the City Council to seize certain types of street trading equipment in cases where they couldn't do so under the present legislation, and to dispose of it summarily in certain cases.