§ POWER TO PROMOTE OR OPPOSE LOCAL OR PERSONAL BILLS
§ Mr. Graham PageI beg to move Amendment No. 915, in page 163, line 42, after first 'or', insert:
'any local authority are satisfied that it is expedient to'.
§ Mr. Deputy Speaker (Mr. E. L. Mallalieu)With this Amendment it will be convenient to discuss Government Amendments Nos. 825 and 826.
§ Mr. PageThe Clause empowers local authorities, other than parish or community councils, to promote or oppose private Bills. The Amendment extends the power so as to enable parish and community councils also to oppose Private Bills, but not to promote them. The Amendment implements an undertaking I gave in Committee.
Regarding Amendments Nos. 825 and 826, the Clause authorises local authorities to promote and oppose Private Bills and lays down certain requirements. One requirement is that advance notice must be given in one or more local newspapers of meetings to consider promotion or opposition. The Bill as originally drafted required 10 days' notice of such meetings. We amended that in Committee to 30 days. That is adequate when a local authority is promoting a Bill, but it may be too long in the case of opposition where a meeting is required to be called quickly to oppose a Private Bill. Consequently, we have restored the 10 days' notice of a meeting to oppose and left 30 days' notice of a meeting to consider a Bill which is being promoted by the local authorities.
§ Amendment agreed to.
1061§ Amendments made: No. 825, in page 164, line 7, leave out 'thirty clear days' and insert 'the requisite'.
§
No. 826, in page 164, line 19, at end insert:
(2A) For the purposes of subsection (2) above the requisite notice is thirty clear days' notice in the case of promotion of a Bill and ten clear days' notice in the case of opposition to a Bill.—[Mr. Graham Page.]