Local Transport Bill [HL]

My Lords, I am grateful to the noble Lord for returning to this amendment, despite the assurances given by my noble friend Lady Crawley on neighbouring authorities. I had thought that we had perhaps persuaded the noble Lord at that stage that the amendment was not required. Our view is that it is important to avoid being overly prescriptive, particularly with regard to local authorities. After all, they consult all the time on lots of issues, and will have their particular ways of handling consultation. The Transport Act 2000, which in this respect would not be amended by this Bill, sets out those people or organisations that must be consulted—including other local authorities that might be affected by the scheme at county or district level. It also includes a category called, "““such other persons as the authority or authorities think fit””," giving the scheme authority a very wide discretion. The local authority will thus have to use its judgment on how widely or narrowly to consult beyond those that they are statutorily obliged to consult. They have to use that judgment reasonably, but not deliberately or inadvertently exclude anyone with a legitimate interest in being consulted. If they consult everyone, on the other hand—and get a large postbag as a result—they may find it difficult to give due weight to all responses, and if large numbers of the public appeal against decisions, that process could also become rather unmanageable and hold up schemes for a very long time. It would certainly be strange if consultations were narrow but appeal rights were widened by these amendments to include absolutely everyone, whether or not they had a legitimate concern or interest in the scheme. If it is the noble Lord’s intention to encourage wider consultation, I conclude that this is not the right way. I remain unconvinced that we need to amend the appeal provisions at all; they should work serviceably as set out in the Bill. For those reasons, I hope that the noble Lord will withdraw the amendment.