Earl of DalkeithI beg to move Amendment No. 43, in page 17, line 1, leave out 'in' and insert 'beside, on'.
307 The effect of this Amendment would be to make the provision read:
The highway authority may provide and maintain beside, on or under a road bins or other receptacles, …This may seem a small point, but if we do not make the Amendment the highway authority would be precluded from putting such receptacles for waste paper or for storage of sand or grit at the side of the road which one would expect to be the place to store such things. I wonder if on technical grounds this Amendment should not be made. I believe there was an explanation of what was meant by "under a road" but the point about "in the road" was not covered. I should have thought that any doubt would have been completely cleared by adding the words, "beside, on".
§ Dr. Dickson MabonIt seems that we are destined to be arguing about "beside the road" and "on the verge" all the way. If we were to accept the word "beside" in this Amendment it would mean that we were authorising the maintenance of litter bins and other receptacles on the land of adjoining owners. I would be surprised if the noble Lord's friends in the Scottish Landowners' Federation would treat him well if I were to agree to that at this stage. If he looks at Clause 48(1) he will see the definition of a road.
It says that "road" includes any adjoining verge or footway. Therefore, anything which lay beside the road would be outside the boundary fence. I do not think that "beside" is right, but if the Opposition want to press the matter I will make some inquiries and see whether we can find another interpretation. My preference is very much that we should leave "in" in and not put "beside, on" in.
§ Amendment negatived.