Road Traffic Regulation (Temporary Closure for Filming) Bill
Iain Stewart (Milton Keynes South) (Con)
I beg to move, That the Bill be now read a Second time.
I am grateful for the opportunity to present the Bill, not just as one with a long-standing interest in transport measures, but as the representative of the great town and new city of Milton Keynes. It may not immediately be thought of as a great film venue, but I shall seek to correct that misapprehension. Next week a great film, “The Imitation Game”, part of which was shot at Bletchley Park in my constituency, will be on general release, and many other big Hollywood films, including “The Fourth Protocol” and one of the Superman films, were shot in Milton Keynes. For those two reasons, I seek to introduce this measure.
Before I move on to the substance of the Bill, I would like to thank Creative England, Film London and the British Film Commission, who have shown strong support for the Bill. Finally, I would like to thank the councils in London, Kent, Hertfordshire and Buckinghamshire, who have all shared their wisdom and expertise and helped to prepare for it.
The film industry is hugely important to the UK economy and contributes over £1 billion a year to GDP. We want to ensure that the industry continues to grow and that it maintains its competitive edge, and remove barriers to growth. This Bill seeks to do just that by amending the Road Traffic Regulation Act 1984. It will make it easier for traffic authorities in England and Wales to close roads for the purposes of facilitating filming. Importantly, these powers already exist for other types of road closures, such as street parties and road cycle events, but there is no express power to close a road for those who want to shoot a film.
Some local authorities, including in Greater London, Kent and Hertfordshire, have already realised the benefits of this and have sought their own powers through local Acts of Parliament to enable them to close roads for filming. My right hon. Friend the Member for Chesham and Amersham (Mrs Gillan) has brought forward a private Member’s Bill for that purpose covering Buckinghamshire. My Bill will provide a national provision for all traffic authorities in England and Wales to prohibit or restrict traffic for the purposes of facilitating filming or reducing disruption to traffic likely to be caused by filming.
The current law is unsatisfactory. My Bill will provide a sound legal basis on which all local authorities can act, as well as remove the burden from local authorities of taking forward their own private Bills, which are both costly and time consuming. The Bill will create a level playing field for all local authorities. It will benefit the film industry and the economy, making it easier for film production companies to shoot in areas outside London and other selected areas. It will also make the UK an even more attractive filming destination for domestic and inward investment productions.
Such laws already exist for other purposes. This is a simple measure that will bring the laws into line, and it will also boost the film industry, and I therefore commend the Bill to the House.
Mr Christopher Chope (Christchurch) (Con)
I had not intended to speak for long on this subject, but as my hon. Friend the Member for Milton Keynes South (Iain Stewart) says—I congratulate him on bringing forward this Bill—the Buckinghamshire filming Bill is a private Bill which is currently going through this House and is due to have its Third Reading on Monday, or perhaps Tuesday, next. That is the right way to deal with Buckinghamshire, rather than through a piece of national legislation. When that Bill gets on to the statute book, Buckinghamshire will be able to carry on filming in accordance with the provisions of that Bill.
What I do not like about my hon. Friend’s Bill is the power it gives to repeal or amend other local Acts. He referred to the Kent county council highways Bill and provisions in place in London, and I think it is important that those authorities who have tailor-made legislation on the statute book in relation to filming should be able to keep them in place. We should not pass legislation that says the Secretary of State can, by regulations made by statutory instrument, amend or repeal any provision of a local Act. That would be a dangerous precedent.
I also think such measures on closing the highway for particular purposes should be brought forward by the Government—if they want to change the primary legislation and impose that change on the whole of the country—and I think some other Bills on the Order Paper today should be brought forward by the Government, too, so they can be properly considered by this House with sufficient time. It is not my hon. Friend’s fault that we have only limited time to discuss his Bill today, and I hope that in due course there will be more time available so that we can go into more detail. Unlike the School Admissions Bill which we were discussing earlier, this is not a short Bill. The explanatory notes alone extend to six pages, and there is an impact assessment that sets out the effects of the proposed legislation. The Bill needs to have a lot more scrutiny—