§ Mr. NugentI beg to move, in page 68, line 43, at the end to insert:
(4) Subject to the restrictions for the time being imposed by any enactment on their expenditure, the council of a parish may. with 321 the consent of the highway authority for a highway maintainable at the public expense in the parish, exercise with respect to that highway any of the powers conferred by subsection (1) of this section on the highway authority.This is a Privilege Amendment.
§ Mr. Ernest DaviesI cannot let the occasion pass without taking credit for the Amendment. I feel proud that in view of the procedure under which we have been operating, I succeeded in getting an Amendment into the Bill at one of the numerous stages through which it passed. In the Joint Committee of the other place and of the House of Commons, there was discussion of the Clause, I put forward the idea behind the Amendment and the Department drafted it.
What the Amendment does and my reason for pressing it was that as the original Bill stood, a parish council which happened to be a highway authority across a village green was not able to plant trees, shrubs or anything on the side of the highway, which was part of the highway although not actually used for traffic. It seemed to me that when all other highway authorities had this power. it was only just and right that a parish council should be able to exercise a similar power. It was not considered that this was an Amendment of such substance that it went before the terms of reference of the Joint Committee. With these few words, I commend the Amendment to the Committee.
§ Amendment agreed to.
§ Clause, as amended, ordered to stand part of the Bill.
§ Clauses 83 to 102 ordered to stand part of the Bill.