Draft Business and Planning Act 2020 (Pavement Licences) (Coronavirus) (Amendment) Regulations 2022

Marcus Jones Excerpts

Monday 11th July 2022 General Committees

[The Minister of State, Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities (Mr Marcus Jones)]

I beg to move,

That the Committee has considered the draft Business and Planning Act 2020 (Pavement Licences) (Coronavirus) (Amendment) Regulations 2022.

It is a pleasure to serve under your chairship, Dame Maria.

It is a privilege to update the Committee on these important regulatory changes in my first speech as the new Housing and Planning Minister. I take the opportunity to pay tribute to my predecessor, my right hon. Friend the Member for Pudsey (Stuart Andrew), now Minister of State at the Ministry of Justice. I commend his commitment and enthusiasm, and the dedication that he showed to this position throughout his time in post. I wish him well in his new role.

The Minister on the Front Bench may be new today, but Members will know that the regulations that we are considering are not. They were laid before the House in draft form last month, under section 23(6) of the Business and Planning Act 2020. The draft regulations will extend the temporary pavement licence provisions for a further 12 months, to 30 September 2023. They will come into effect the day after the regulations are made.

Hon. Members will know that the pavement licence provisions create a faster, cheaper and more streamlined approval process for businesses to put tables and chairs on the pavement outside their premises. In my constituency, and no doubt in all our constituencies, that has proved to be a game changer for many cafes, bars, restaurants and pubs. The measures have proven to be almost universally popular, and successful in supporting high street businesses to stay afloat and to keep their doors open—in particular during the height of the pandemic, when people were in effect not able to trade indoors. By making it easier for those businesses to offer al fresco dining with outside seating, the draft regulations also contribute to a vibrant, mixed-use high street, which drives up footfall, and supports local businesses and the wider local economy.

For all such reasons, it is important to extend the provisions for a further 12 months. That will give businesses certainty about the current rules while we seek to make the measure permanent through the Levelling-up and Regeneration Bill.

I now offer some background to the draft regulations; I hope the Committee will bear with me while I delve into the finer points of the legislation. Part VIIA of the Highways Act 1980 sets out a permanent local authority licensing regime for the placement of furniture such as tables and chairs on the highway. However, the process set out under that legislation is for there to be a legal minimum of a 28-day consultation to determine applications. In practice, many local authorities take much longer to determine applications, and there is no statutory cap on the fee that an authority may charge.

We sought to cut through that red tape quickly, to help struggling businesses during the pandemic, and in July 2020 we introduced a temporary pavement licence provision in the Business and Planning Act, to support the hard-hit hospitality sector. The draft regulations use enabling powers under the Act that allow the Secretary of State to extend the temporary provisions, subject to parliamentary approval.

I turn to the detail of the draft regulations, whose sole purpose is to change the four references to the expiry date of the temporary pavement licensing provisions in legislation. To be specific, those dates are pushed back by 12 months, from 30 September 2022 to 30 September 2023. I want to be clear: the draft regulations will change no other part of the temporary pavement licensing provisions. The process for applying for a licence during the extended period will not change, either.

All the draft regulations mean is that businesses will continue be able to apply for a licence under the process set out in the 2020 provisions until at least 30 September 2023. However, the regulations do not automatically extend licences that have already been granted under the current provisions, so businesses will need to apply for a new licence if they wish to have one in place during the extended period. Councils are encouraged by guidance to take a pragmatic approach to applying the relevant provisions, to make it as easy as possible for businesses to apply for a licence during the extended period.

I appreciate that some hon. Members may be interested in what the process looks like. All licence applications are subject to a seven-day public consultation period. After that, there is usually a further seven-day determination period during which the local authority is expected to either grant a licence or reject the application. If the council does not determine the application before the end of that period, the licence will automatically be deemed to be granted and the business will be able to set out its tables and chairs in accordance with the purposes stated in its application.

Licence application fees will be set locally but are capped at £100. The fees are unchanged from the current temporary provisions. All licences will be subject to a national non-obstruction condition and smoke-free seating condition, as well as other local conditions set by councils. The granting of a pavement licence covers only the placing of removable furniture on the highway. A pavement licence does not negate the need to obtain approvals under other regulatory frameworks such as alcohol licensing.

The draft regulations will enable hospitality businesses to continue to obtain a licence to place their tables and chairs outside their premises quickly and cheaply. The changes could not come at a more important time for high street businesses. Evidence from organisations such as the British Beer and Pub Association shows that the hospitality sector has struggled to return to pre-pandemic levels of trading.

I firmly believe that the draft regulations will provide essential economic support for the sector by letting businesses continue to serve food and drink outside. To support councils and businesses with the implementation regulations, we will publish an updated version of the pavement licensing guidance. We are seeking to make the measure permanent through the Levelling-up and Regeneration Bill so there will be no unnecessary gap in service, which would prove costly for businesses and local authorities.

Members on all sides of the House will have seen the positive impact of al fresco dining during this period. I want to express my gratitude for the huge efforts made by local authorities to make the licences a success. Since introducing the simplified route for businesses to obtain a licence, we have seen a massive explosion of outdoor seating. That has led to more buzzing high streets, a great deal of social capital and support for our economy. It is right that we keep the regulations, and I commend them to the Committee.

--- Later in debate ---

[Mr Jones]

I start by thanking the hon. Member for Luton North for her good wishes. It was a pleasure to work with her in her role as an Opposition Whip when I was in the Government Whips Office.

The hon. Lady made a number of points about our high streets and the challenges there. I do not, as she mentioned, see the regulations as a panacea for dealing with all the problems on the high street, but they are part of the solution. She mentioned the cost of living—clearly, we all have concerns about global inflation and the cost of living. I remind her that the Government have put in £37 billion of support and that money is going into people’s pockets from this month to help with the additional cost of living.

The hon. Lady asked a number of questions and made a very good point about those who are partially sighted or without sight. We have been working with the RNIB and Guide Dogs and, with them, have worked to refine the guidance to help people as regards the hazard from furniture placed on the pavement in their way. We have refined that guidance to ensure that it works and I believe from my conversations—as the hon. Lady said, I was not party to those discussions—that we have been able to accommodate a number of suggestions that were made.

We are putting guidance in place to ensure that enforcement happens. We are clear that when people breach the conditions of a particular licence or do things that become a nuisance to the local community, the local authority has the opportunity to revoke that licence. I will take back the suggestions that the hon. Lady made.

On new burdens funding, a significant amount has been dedicated to the policy. In the first year, £4.83 million was given to local authorities and in the second year it will be £2.38 million. The funding is a little less in the second year because many people applying for licences are reapplying for the same licence; the amount of work the local authority will have to conduct will therefore be reduced significantly.

[Sarah Owen]

I hope I am not pre-empting the Minister, but I want to make sure that he will get to the point about year three and ongoing funding for burdens. We have agreed that enforcement is incredibly important; local authorities therefore need to be adequately funded to enforce the new rules.

[Mr Jones]

I am sure the hon. Member knows that the intention is to legislate for the regime through the Levelling-up and Regeneration Bill. There will be an opportunity for local authorities to put forward further charges in relation to the application fee. However, it will not be anywhere near the current situation. The average application fee before this regime was about £500, and in some cases fees were £1,000. We expect the fees to be far lower, but we also expect local authorities to be reimbursed for the work they do.

I thank the hon. Member for Lancaster and Fleetwood for her kind comments. It sounds like she will be knocking on my door to talk about her local area. I reiterate that we had extensive dialogue—although it is not required by the legislation—with organisations such as the Royal National Institute of Blind People and Guide Dogs before making the extension. We wanted to have that dialogue, because it is extremely important that we support people with disabilities. We have refined the guidance significantly, and that will be reflected in the guidance for local authorities.

On the hon. Lady’s final point about the cost of living, there is a significant package under which people on the lowest incomes and on benefits can receive in the region of £1,250.

[The Chair]

Can we stick to the subject of pavements?

[Mr Jones]

That is significantly more than the amount referred to by the hon. Lady.

To follow your guidance, Dame Maria, I will leave it there. I hope hon. Members will support the statutory instrument, which in turn supports businesses, livelihoods and jobs in our town centres and on our high streets.

Question put and agreed to.