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Local Democracy, Economic Development and Construction Bill [HL]

Again, let me offer some assurances. It is up to local authorities. There is no reason why they should change their constitution at all; they will not be required to. The powers that cover road charging are essentially inherited. There is no way that the combined authorities will introduce congestion charging and road pricing in an underhand way. The ITAs were granted powers over local charging schemes by the Local Transport Act, as the noble Lord knows. The Bill provides no extra powers on transport; it merely provides for those functions and powers that are already available to ITAs to be carried out in tandem with other economic development activities. If they choose to go down the road that he suggested, it is entirely up to them. I am happy to put that on the record. I know that there was some concern after Second Reading that this might somehow open the door to congestion charging. That is absolutely not the case. I hope I can reassure the noble Lord about that. We are looking to enable any local authorities that want to opt for an EPB to consider at the same time whether, in order to deliver that powerful economic objective, it would serve their purposes to bring the ITA on board and have an integrated approach to economic development at a sub-regional level. It is simply there as a facility that can be considered if the local authority so chooses.