Localism Bill

My Lords, I have two amendments in the group, Amendments128L and 128M. Amendment 128L says ““arrange a meeting””, and Amendment 128M says, "““as soon as is reasonably practicable after the determination is made””." Clearly, if it is two and a half months until the next full council meeting of that authority, "““as soon as is reasonably practicable””," could be taken to mean that the meeting has to be called more quickly than that. I am perfectly happy to accept the assurances that the Minister has already given. I was just concerned about the cost of these referendums to local authorities. The cost of organising an extra meeting of the full council is not cheap for any authority, especially for a small one where the cost is a larger proportion of its budget. It is not a trivial expense. If the Minister is putting that assurance on the record, then my amendments have achieved their purpose.