Business of the House

Alex Mayer Excerpts

Thursday 4th December 2025 Commons Chamber

[Sir Alan Campbell]

The Railways Bill will come to this House shortly, and Great British Railways will come shortly, but the hon. Lady raises the frustration of a lot of people with the underperformance of parts of our railways. The reforms we intend to introduce are absolutely central to ensuring that there are real improvements. Again, I gently point her towards either a Backbench Business debate or an Adjournment debate, because I am sure that many colleagues would want to take part.

[Alex Mayer (Dunstable and Leighton Buzzard) (Lab)]

South Side Studios is a fantastic temporary custodian of the old Wilko shop on Leighton Buzzard high street. It has put on some brilliant events, such as salsa, more dancing, painting and Lego workshops—who does not like Lego? While it has had fantastic success in persuading commercial businesses to embrace meanwhile use, it has had rather less success with the local council, which has an old, disused care home that I am told costs £7,000 every week for security. Will the Leader of the House consider a debate on meanwhile use so that we can spread the news about the positive benefits it can bring?

[Sir Alan Campbell]

Let me pay tribute to the interesting work that South Side Studios does. The Government remain committed to the rejuvenation of our high streets and to tackling vacancy, and we support innovative solutions to this issue, such as meanwhile use and rental auctions. It is a matter for local authorities to consider temporary planning permission, but I hope that my hon. Friend’s local authority has heard about this matter. Once again, she is right to raise these matters—she shows that on this issue, as on many others, she is on the side of her constituents.