COUNTY OF SOUTH GLAMORGAN BILL [H.L.] (Hansard, 6 March 1975)

§ The CHAIRMAN of COMMITTEES (The Earl of Listowel)
My Lords, in moving the Second Reading of this Bill I think I should tell the House something about its background and purposes. This is the first Private Bill which has been promoted to retain provisions repealed by the Local Government Act 1972. That Act, as your Lordships will be aware, established new local government areas in England and Wales and in Section 262 repealed prospectively a large number of provisions contained in local Acts at present in force in those areas or in parts of them. This means that the power conferred by those private Acts will cease to have effect in the metropolitan counties at the end of 1979, and elsewhere at the end of 1984, unless reenacted by fresh legislation of which this Bill is the first example. The Act of 1972 constituted the county of South Glamorgan to consist of areas of local government in Glamorgan and Monmouthshire existing immediately before the Act came into operation. Most important of these areas were the county borough of Cardiff and the borough of Barry.
The purpose of the Bill now before the House is to reenact with amendments certain of the repealed enactments, and also to extend and enlarge in various respects the powers of the new county council and the councils of the districts comprised in it. The Bill seeks to keep alive local legislation in Acts promoted in the past by the Glamorgan and Monmouthshire county councils. The Bill contains more than 280 general powers clauses and is the first of a kind which other local authorities are likely to promote in view of the time limit in the Local Government Act 1972.
In my opinion, and I am sure that the House will agree, such Bills promoted by the new local authorities must be scrutinised by Parliament with special care so as to ensure two things: first, that the general law shall not be changed unless there is a compelling local need for variation; and second, that whatever is passed into law shall be so far as possible of the standard of draftsmanship that Parliament requires of Bills for 1347 Public General Acts. I regard this Bill, therefore, as offering a crucial precedent for other Bills which may follow.
To enable the House to carry out this scrutiny I propose to recommend the following procedures. The clauses which are opposed by Petitioners—and there are several of these—will be considered by a Select Committee in the usual way; but, in view of the scope of this Bill, I shall also arrange for it to be considered by a small Select Committee consisting of myself and two other Members of the House advised by my counsel. I shall propose to the House in due course the appropriate procedural Motion. I beg to move that this Bill be now read a second time.

§ Lord ABERDARE
My Lords, I should like to express my gratitude to the noble Earl for explaining the way he is to treat this Bill. There has been a certain amount of anxiety among other local authorities who felt that South Glamorgan was stealing a march on them, particularly in the field of Part VIII of the Bill which gives the local authorities the chance to make special grants for industry coming into the county. To my belief, at least, he is treating it in a satisfactory manner and I would endorse fully the proposal that he has made with regard to the Bill.

§ Baroness BIRK
My Lords, I should like to say how much the Government welcome what the noble Earl, the Lord Chairman of Committees, has just said. The introduction of this Bill from South Glamorgan is an important event. It is the first Bill of its kind promoted by one of the new local authorities following the reorganisation of local government in England and Wales under the Local Government Act 1972.
There is a great amount on the local Statute Book which should have been repealed many years ago, either because it has been overtaken by general law, because it is no longer applicable to modern circumstances, because the powers are spent or because the provisions in question represent the sort of law that Parliament would not now be inclined to pass. Section 262 of the 1972 Act provides for the expiration of almost all local 1348 law in England and Wales either in 1979 or 1984, except for London where reorganisation took place ten years ago. There is now therefore a unique opportunity for local authorities to review thoroughly, and prune ruthlessly, the vast amount of local law which has been cluttering up the local Statute Book for too many years. The Government hope that most local authorities will be able to get rid of the bulk of their former local Act provisions and will come forward with a new Private Bill only where they have powers which genuinely need to be retained. It is not enough that provisions were originally granted by Parliament in former times for particular needs; they should remain on the Statute Book only if they can be shown to be necessary today.
In years gone by local authorities probably required a good deal of local law to fill gaps in the general law—indeed, there was truth in the old saying that today's Private Bills are tomorrow's public law. But during this century Parliament has provided a comprehensive code of general powers, which it regularly updates, so that local authorities ought not to need large batteries of local Acts. The Local Government Act has therefore provided local authorities with the opportunity to rationalise their existing local legislation. Equally, it has faced Parliament with the need to examine afresh the principles which should be applied by Committees in their consideration of Private Bills. I particularly welcome the Lord Chairman's statement about the way in which he proposes to scrutinise the present Bill.
South Glamorgan are to be congratulated on being the first county to promote a consolidating Bill. They must have worked very quickly indeed, as the noble Lord, Lord Aberdare, pointed out. I see that the Bill runs to 287 clauses and, while I should be reluctant to delve into Welsh affairs, I hope that the scrutiny will show that a shorter Bill is possible without impairing the efficient working of local government in that county. Two Departments have been looking closely at the contents of the Bill and in due course my right honourable friends will be submitting reports to Parliament on it. I will not anticipate the contents of the joint report to be made by my right honourable 1349 friends the Secretary of State for the Environment and the Secretary of State for Wales. I am confident, however, that they will recommend the most rigorous scrutiny of this Bill and all the others which will follow, so that we emerge with a body of local law, accessible to those to whom it applies and which goes no further than is needed to meet properly proven local needs.
Finally, my Lords, I am sure the House will join with me in paying tribute to the noble Earl, the Lord Chairman of Committees, and his counsel for the valuable work they do in the Select Committee on Private Bills. I do not envy them their task of examining this long Bill; but I am sure they will exercise the careful and expert attention required by this important first Bill to emerge in the post-reorganisation period.

§ The Earl of LISTOWEL
My Lords, may I just say in reply that I am grateful to the noble Lord, Lord Aberdare, for his support and that I should like to thank the noble Baroness, Lady Birk, for her kind words about by counsel and myself which we shall do our best to deserve. I am sure that the House will be grateful for having their attention drawn to the special importance of this Bill in the context of local legislation and for their approval of the rather exceptional procedure that I have recommended in dealing with it.