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Local Transport Bill [HL]

My Lords, I beg to move that the House do agree with the Commons in their Amendments Nos. 1 to 8. I shall speak also to Amendments Nos. 9 to 17, 149 to 151, 154, 155, 175 and 176. These amendments are relatively minor and technical. Amendments Nos. 1, 10, 149 to 151, 154 and 155 amend existing powers in the Bill that empower the Secretary of State to make secondary legislation containing provisions that are directly related to matters covered in the Bill. I shall take Clause 6 as an example. It includes a power to make provision consequential on, or supplementary to, Clauses 2 to 5. Clause 6 goes on to state that this includes the power to amend, "““any enactment (whenever passed or made)””." The purpose of Amendment No. 10 is to clarify that the power would enable future secondary legislation to amend provisions contained in the Local Transport Act itself, or provisions as amended by that Act, as well as other enactments. Amendments Nos. 2 to 8 amend the consultation requirements that are imposed on the senior traffic commissioner. The main change is that, before issuing directions or guidance to the other commissioners, the senior commissioner would be required to consult such organisations representing the interests of public transport users as he thinks appropriate. Amendment No. 9 confirms that the Secretary of State may issue guidance to the senior traffic commissioner about any of his functions. At this point, I refer to the amendment tabled by my noble friend Lord Rosser, Amendment No. 9A, which is intended to ensure that the senior traffic commissioner has regard to any recommendations made by the Public Transport Users Committee for England or the Rail Passengers’ Council, now popularly known as Passenger Focus, so that enforcement action could be considered against poorly performing operators. I believe that I can meet the concerns that my noble friend has in this regard. Back in April, the Secretary of State announced that, subject to further consultation on the details, additional functions would be conferred on the Rail Passengers’ Council to enable it to represent the interests of bus passengers. That reflects the fact that many respondents to our consultation on strengthening bus passenger representation had a clear preference for Passenger Focus taking on this role. Passenger Focus already does a good job representing rail passengers, and there are economies of scale in giving the role to an existing statutory body; therefore, we do not intend to establish a public transport users’ committee at the current time. However, I assure my noble friend that, were we to establish such a committee, the powers in the Bill would be wide enough to place certain requirements on the senior traffic commissioner to take account of recommendations made by the committee if that was thought desirable. Similarly, the current clause enabling the Secretary of State to confer bus and coach functions on the Rail Passengers’ Council through secondary legislation would be wide enough to make similar requirements of the senior traffic commissioner, if thought desirable. Due consideration would, nevertheless, need to be given to ensure that it was done in such a way as not to prejudice or diminish the authority or independence of the senior traffic commissioner. The secondary legislation will be subject to the affirmative resolution procedure, so there will be a proper opportunity for your Lordships' House and the House of Commons to debate the detailed proposals. Amendments Nos. 11 to 16 relate to local transport plans. Amendment No. 11 makes explicit that local authorities must have regard to government policies and guidance relating to climate change mitigation and adaptation, as well as other environmental issues. This responds to points raised in the House in earlier debates on the Bill, as well as to debates in the other place. I shall say a few words about the amendment to the Motion proposed by the noble Lord, Lord Bradshaw. We entirely share his view that the planning and delivery of transport, whether by central government or local authorities, should play its full part in mitigating the threat posed by climate change. I reassure him that we will be emphasising the importance of taking that goal into account both in the guidance that we give to regions on planning regional transport priorities and in the draft guidance to local authorities on local transport plans, which we will publish before Christmas. We are also developing the tools that regions and local authorities urgently need to help them assess the impact of their proposals and policies on the emission of greenhouse gases. Measuring such impact is, I fear, far from simple. It is well known, for example, that a well intentioned but badly planned measure to reduce congestion, and the emissions that result from that congestion, may have the unintended effect of encouraging more people to use their cars. We need to ensure that local authorities are encouraged not only to reduce emissions but to do so effectively. Given our current state of knowledge, it is simply impossible for local authorities to estimate with any great accuracy the total impact of their transport policies on climate change. We do not believe that making such matters a potential issue for the courts to determine, as might happen under the noble Lord’s amendment, is the right way forward at this stage. In addition, it is important that local authorities consider the threat of climate change against the totality of their policy, taking into account the need to integrate transport policies with, for example, housing and land use planning. Measuring the impact of transport policies alone carries a significant risk of perverse results. Impacts need to be measured across local authority policies, so that the best measures overall may be planned and implemented. I stress again to the noble Lord that we will be emphasising the importance of taking the threat posed by climate change into full account in the guidance that we give to both regions and local authorities on local transport plans. Amendment No. 16 makes explicit that local authorities must consult transport providers and transport users when developing their local transport plans. Clause 12 would transfer responsibility for local transport policies and plans in our major cities outside London to the Integrated Transport Authority for the area concerned, but the ITA would be required to consult the councils falling within its area. However, there are some statutory references to local transport policies developed by metropolitan district councils. Those councils will no longer be developing such policies, so those statutory references will no longer work. Amendment No. 17 and consequential Amendments Nos. 175 and 176 clarify how those references are to be interpreted once Clause 12 comes into force. I beg to move. Moved, That the House do agree with the Commons in their Amendments Nos. 1 to 8.—(Lord Adonis.)