HC Deb 16 November 1977 vol 939 cc564-6
16. Mr. Aitken

asked the Secretary of State for Transport what representations he has received, following the publication of his proposals set out in the transport policy White Paper, Command Paper No. 6836, concerning plans to license and tax private car parking spaces in offices and factories in Central London; and if he will make a statement.

Mr. William Rodgers

The White Paper makes no parking proposals specific to London. There have been about 170 replies to the consultation paper on additional powers for local authorities to control off-street parking.

Mr. Aitken

Does the Minister realise that these misguided proposals have been savagely criticised in many quarters because they are rightly seen as nothing less than a spiteful attack on the motorist? How can it possibly be justified to burden individuals and companies with a new tax and the expensive new bureaucracy that would be needed to operate it? Will the Minister think again about this Socialist lunacy?

Mr. Rodgers

I am not quite clear whether the hon. Gentleman has read the White Paper and understands the proposals made in it and, particularly, whether he has read the consultation document. We are proposing only that local authorities may like to have powers to enable them to decide whether they wish, in one way or another, to control off-street parking. I should have thought that it was a reasonable spread of democracy to give such powers to local authorities, which would be free to use them or otherwise.

Mr. McNamara

Is my right hon. Friend aware that there are people, particularly hon. Members representing urban areas, who are in favour of these powers being given to local authorities but believe that they should be given to district councils in shire counties and not left in the hands of the shire counties, which use their position to strangle urban life in the cities? That has happened in Humberside, by the shire county refusing to develop lorry parks.

Mr. Rodgers

It is certainly clear that in many towns and cities there is a widespread view that parking should be subject to control, given only that local authorities should make the decisions and that they are subject to the normal democratic processes. However, each town and city is different, and it would be extremely foolish of me to lay down the law. Only certain powers would be given, but my hon. Friend was right in saying that these powers are more applicable to districts than to counties. Under the local government reorganization—for which the Labour Party was not responsible—many powers relating to traffic and transport have been given to the counties.

Mr. Geoffrey Finsberg

Does the right hon. Gentleman appreciate that in many cases the provision of car parking for offices has been a condition of planning consent being given by a local authority? Is not this a case of trying to change the rules after the game has been started?

Mr. Rodgers

I take that point, because I was a member of a planning committee in a metropolitan borough some years ago and I was insistent then that new office buildings should have car parking accommodation. However, we all have to learn from experience in handling traffic, and local authorities should be free—given the proper consultative process and all the safeguards upon which the House would insist—to have these powers at some stage.

Mr. Christopher Price

With reference to traffic congestion and parking troubles in Central London, has my right hon. Friend seen the GLC's plans for removing many bus lanes and reinstituting parking meters in a way that will inevitably make intolerable traffic congestion even worse? Have the Government powers to do anything about that?

Mr. Rodgers

I am very bothered by the proposals. I have read of them only in the newspapers, because, I regret to tell the House—although this is totally consistent with my view on local decisionmaking—this is the responsibility of the GLC, control of which changes hands from time to time, and changed in the wrong direction last May.

Mr. Norman Fowler

Will the right hon. Gentleman reconsider the reply that he gave to my hon. Friend the Member for Thanet, East (Mr. Aitken)? Will he confirm that in the consultation document that he has issued, though not publicly, it is implicit in his plans that a new enforcement body of inspectors will check on motorists parked in private car parks in the areas designated? Is not the whole thing a hopeless over-reaction to the problem, and will he undertake to drop these absurd plans into the departmental wastepaper basket?

Mr. Rodgers

I am sorry to disappoint the hon. Gentleman. These proposals are worthy of consideration and have received a reception that was friendly from some and less friendly from others. I am sure that as the years go by the hon. Gentleman will find that an increasing number of local authorities will want to have the powers, whichever way they may choose to exercise them.