Community Right to Challenge (Business Improvement Districts) Regulations 2015

Debate between Lord Kennedy of Southwark and Lord McKenzie of Luton

Tuesday 24th February 2015 Grand Committee

[Lord McKenzie of Luton (Lab)]

My Lords, the Minister has spoken glowingly about the progress the Government have made on the high street, but I put to him a recent report from PWC and the Local Data Company which, while recognising that the pace of retailers shutting shops reduced over the first half of 2014, shows that the gulf between openings and closures has nearly doubled. That survey covered the three months from July 2014 to 30 September 2014, and analysis shows that the net decline for the year to date has risen to 964 closures. That is quite a staggering number and belies, in effect, the fundamental point the Minister has made. Will he respond to that?

I have a specific question about what he referred to as the targeted discount for retailers—the £1,000, going up to £1,500—and the impact of EU state-aid provisions. As I understand it, it is subject to state-aid consequences. Is the discount per hereditament as long as the rateable value is not more than £50,000? Is the state aid de minimis similarly per hereditament or per business? I wonder how those two things are dealt with. In relation to the £1,000, if it is per hereditament, does that mean that the likes of Starbucks, with its renowned corporate social responsibility approach, would be eligible for the discount on each of its relevant outlets?

[Lord Kennedy of Southwark (Lab)]

My Lords, this regulation adds an additional type of body, the business improvement district, as a body able to deliver services locally. It can make an expression of interest in delivering a service under the community right to challenge provisions of the Localism Act. It enables certain bodies to provide services. In principle, that is fine, but it would be useful if the Minister could answer a number of points raised by my noble friend Lord McKenzie of Luton. Could he also say a little more about the community right to challenge in itself, and what has been the benefit of the proposals so far? I have not heard a huge amount about them since they were put on the statute book. As for business improvement districts, and their work to improve town centres, have those in his department thought a bit more about the sort of service that they would see these districts actually deliver? Does he see any risk of fragmentation of services, for example by focusing on a particular high street or area, and perhaps even additional costs to business or residents?

I do not know whether the Minister was in the House yesterday, but his noble friend Lord Naseby asked a very pertinent Question about the crisis on our high streets. When she answered the Question, the noble Baroness, Lady Williams of Trafford, placed a lot of emphasis on “click and collect”. I notice that the Minister did not mention that once in his presentation here today, and I must say that I am a bit sceptical that click and collect is going to be the solution to the problems on our high streets. You have only to walk or drive around in London or elsewhere to see that there is a real problem in our high streets now. The noble Lord, Lord Forsyth, also made a very interesting point about how much tax is paid by booming internet-based companies, which again causes problems for shops that are trying to compete.

Could the Minister also talk about the whole question of infrastructure and transport, while he has his noble friend Lady Kramer here? For high streets and shops to work, good transport links are needed. That is an important point as well. If he could deal with that today, it would be helpful. If he cannot, perhaps he could write to me on that point. I am not against these orders, but they go much wider than some of the points raised yesterday in your Lordships’ House.

Non-Domestic Rating (Shale Oil and Gas and Miscellaneous Amendments) Regulations 2015

Debate between Lord Kennedy of Southwark and Lord McKenzie of Luton

Tuesday 24th February 2015 Grand Committee

[Lord McKenzie of Luton]

My final question was to do with the status of outstanding appeals, and whether we can have an analysis of those between the relevant revaluation years.

[Lord Kennedy of Southwark (Lab)]

My Lords, first, I declare an interest as an elected member of Lewisham Council. As the Minister outlined, we are debating two sets of regulations. The first set, as he said, forms part of a scheme for local retention of business rates; the purpose is to designate classes of property liable to business rates to which the business rates income is to be wholly retained by local authorities. The second set of regulations makes changes to the operation and calculation of levy and safety net payments under the scheme for local retention of non-domestic rates.

I have no issue with either of these regulations as they stand, and I can see the benefit of incentivising local economic growth. I agree with my noble friend Lord McKenzie of Luton on the points that he raised; I would be interested to hear the response from the Minister to those points. I see the point about incentivising fracking schemes locally.

I should say at this point that I am a supporter of the UK doing all that it can to maximise different energy sources as our use and demand for power increase, ensuring security of supply. We all accept that fracking is not without its critics, and in some places controversy as well. As this is a relatively new technology in the UK, proceeding with appropriate levels of caution, risk assessment, and safety and security is really important, as it is that things are handled well here. Anything that the noble Lord could say about that in respect of local government would be appreciated.

I noted the comments in the accompanying note that some of the respondents to the consultation were concerned that these proposals could adversely affect independent planning decisions, and it would be useful if the noble Lord could say something about that when he responds to this debate. It would also be useful if the noble Lord could comment on the suggestion from the energy sector that the scheme could be extended to other aspects of energy-source extraction. I am not at all convinced by that, but it would be helpful to hear the views on this of the noble Lord and those of his department.

The second set of regulations is a sensible measure that protects local authorities against the risk of volatility in local rates income and the risk to local services that that could bring about by providing a safety net. They obviously make some changes there. I am content with these regulations and look forward to the noble Lord’s response.

Energy: Prices

Debate between Lord Kennedy of Southwark and Lord McKenzie of Luton

Monday 9th December 2013 Lords Chamber

[Lord Kennedy of Southwark]

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what estimate they have made of the impact of recent energy price rises on local authorities in financial years 2015-16 and 2016-17, compared to a price freeze.

[Lord McKenzie of Luton (Lab)]

My Lords, on behalf of my noble friend Lord Kennedy of Southwark, and with his consent, I beg leave to ask the Question standing in his name on the Order Paper.

Localism Bill

Debate between Lord Kennedy of Southwark and Lord McKenzie of Luton

Monday 12th September 2011 Lords Chamber

[Lord Kennedy of Southwark]

My Lords, Amendment 108, moved by the noble Lord, Lord Tope, is an interesting amendment, on which I look forward to the response of the noble Earl. As a Londoner, I always thought that the London Transport Users’ Committee did quite a good job standing up for Londoners and, as my noble friend Lord Whitty said, for people travelling through London who have no vote in the GLA or any other elections in London. Having proper GLA input into what goes on in London transport is obviously very important. It has not happened in the past and that is very regrettable. What worries me, though, is where people will go to have their voice heard if this body is abolished. I know that the body is appointed by the London authority. I have some concerns, as a south Londoner, that there is very little experience of south London on the board. That needs to be addressed in the next round of appointments. One member may have been to Putney once or twice, but there is very little involvement in south London.

Another thing that worries me is the performance of London Underground. Noble Lords may not be aware that since April this year performance statistics have ceased to be published, so we have no idea what is going on in London Underground. I think we all know that it is getting worse, for sure, and this is something that needs to be addressed by both the users committee and the London authority pressing the mayor to release those figures again and to say why they have been stopped.

In conclusion, I am not against reform at all, but we need to hear more about how this will improve the situation. We in London all find that things are getting much worse, so we need to hear more about improvements. This may be something for the future, but not now.

[Lord McKenzie of Luton]

My Lords, I should explain that our official Front Bench position is that we support the amendment, which means that, should it be put to a vote, I, at least, will be obliged to vote in favour. I am not sure how many of my colleagues behind me would follow me into the same Lobby. Our position was formulated because of strong support from the GLA, but I take it as implicit in my mandate that supporting the amendment would be conditional on the Government being able to answer a lot of the very robust challenges that have come, particularly, from this side of the House during this debate.

My noble friend Lord Whitty spoke about the importance of preserving a strong consumer interest. Points were also made by my noble friend Lord Faulkner about whether this will benefit passengers, some of whom do not live in London and are not London voters. Indeed, it covers rail travel from such places as Luton. If we were to separate rail from other modes of travel, how would that work? I understand the thrust of the movers of the amendment, but these are questions that need to be satisfied before it could proceed. Perhaps in responding the Government can confirm that there was overwhelming support for the proposition among transport operators and rail user groups. Will the Government let us know, for the record, whether any alternatives to transfer to the GLA have been considered and on what basis they were rejected?

The Government have acknowledged the considerable amount of casework undertaken by London TravelWatch and are presumably satisfied that this could be handled under the proposed new arrangements. The London Assembly review of TravelWatch, to which the noble Lord, Lord Jenkin, spoke, recommended that the reorganisation be folded into the assembly but with rail functions distributed between the assembly and the national independent passenger watchdog Passenger Focus. Have the Government undertaken an analysis and will they support that as an appropriate way forward?

I look forward to the Minister's reply and hope that he can dig me out of my dilemma on this issue. Powerful issues have been raised that need to be answered before the proposition can and should proceed, much as we love the thrust of it. In particular, there is a mood that the status quo should not necessarily be accepted. There may be ways in which it can be improved and cost savings may be generated. I would be interested in the Minister's views on that as well.