§ 2.38 p.m.
§ BARONESS BURTON OF COVENTRYMy Lords, I beg leave to ask the Question which stands in my name on the Order Paper.
§ [The Question was as follows:
§ To ask Her Majesty's Government whether they are aware of the increasing impediment to other traffic caused by vans loading or off-loading during peak hours in streets such as Oxford Street, Bond Street, Regent Street and Edgware Road; what are the regulations concerning such matters; and whether they will make a statement.]
§ THE PARLIAMENTARY SECRETARY, MINISTRY OF TRANSPORT (LORD LINDGREN)My Lords, Her Majesty's Government do not think that this impediment is increasing. Nor do the Greater London Council, who took over responsibility for traffic in London on April 1 last, or the Commissioner of Police. Generally, loading and unloading is not permitted in these and similar streets between 8.30 a.m. and 6.30 p.m., Mondays to Fridays, and 8.30 a.m. and 1.30 p.m. on Saturdays. These restrictions are extended to cover the period 8.30 a.m. to midnight throughout the week at certain places in or near Oxford Street and Regent Street where loading and unloading, even in the evening, would severely impede the flow of traffic. Both the Greater London Council and the police are satisfied that more stringent restrictions need not be imposed at the present time, 589 bearing in mind the problems which bans of this sort create for local traders.
§ BARONESS BURTON OF COVENTRYMy Lords, is my noble friend aware (I say this at the risk of seeming presumptuous, in the face of such august opinion) that I think they are all wrong? I agree with him that we do not want further regulations, but is he aware that the present ones are not being kept and that the law is being brought into contempt? Knowing my noble friend's fairness in these matters, I wonder whether he would ask some officials in his Department to go to one of the streets, say Oxford Street, any week-day during the rush hour to see whether I am right or whether the opinion he has just quoted is right.
§ LORD LINDGRENMy Lords, I should be only too pleased to co-operate in any way that the Department could, but Parliament, in its wisdom, took away from the Ministry responsibility for traffic in London and placed it with the Greater London Council. We might be accused of snooping if we did that, but I will certainly get in touch with the Commissioner of Police and the Greater London Council regarding the subject of the noble Lady's remarks.
§ BARONESS BURTON OF COVENTRYMy Lords, is my noble friend aware that I am most appreciative? Is he further aware that I do use public transport and that on some days it is quite impossible to get along Oxford Street because of the off-loading of vans?
§ LORD LINDGRENThat is appreciated, my Lords. Frankly, the only satisfactory solution to this problem is to have a rear access to the premises as and when redevelopment takes place in the area.
§ BARONESS SUMMERSKILLMy Lords, may I ask, on a question of procedure, whether it is not quite common for a Ministry to overrule a decision of the Greater London Council?
§ LORD LINDGRENMy Lords, in this matter it is not a question of overruling, but a far better method of consultation and agreement. That is taking place, so far as the new traffic arrangements are concerned, with the Greater London Council. The vast majority of the staff 590 of the Council came from the Ministry, and the relationship, therefore, is perhaps even more happy than it might otherwise have been.