Written Statement - Local Government Byelaws (Wales) Bill

The Local Government Byelaws (Wales) Bill has been laid today.

The Bill, which forms an important part of the Welsh Government’s wider simplification agenda, will make changes intended to simplify and improve byelaws as a regulatory mechanism for local government in Wales. For ease of accessibility and to develop the Welsh statute book, the Bill will also consolidate, in a Welsh Act, provisions for making, confirming and enforcing byelaws previously contained in the Local Government Act 1972.

The Bill makes provision to:

• re-state the power of a county borough council or county council to make byelaws for good rule and government and the prevention and suppression of nuisances (Section 2 of the Bill);
• re-state the power of a legislating authority (which includes a National Park authority in Wales and the Countryside Council for Wales as well as county borough councils, county councils and community councils) to revoke a byelaw where there exists no other power to do so and restates the power of the Welsh Ministers to revoke byelaws that appear to have become obsolete (Sections 4 and 5);
• detail the alternative procedure for byelaws not requiring confirmation by the Welsh Ministers, which will apply to byelaws made under the enactments listed within Part 1 of Schedule 1 (Section 6);
• re-state and modify the procedure for byelaws requiring confirmation by the Welsh Ministers (Section 7);
• detail the formalities, commencement and publication of byelaws subject to both the alternative procedure and the confirmation procedure (Section 8);
• allow the Welsh Ministers, by order, to amend Part 1 and Part 2 of Schedule 1 to the Bill to add to or remove byelaws not requiring confirmation and that may be subject to fixed penalty notices (Section 9 and 16);
• set out the enforcement framework by way of fines; the scale of fines and the powers of seizure, retention and forfeiture of property which are available for the enforcement of certain byelaws (Sections 10 and 11);
• set out the fixed penalty notice regime as an alternative form of enforcing byelaws made under enactments listed within Part 2 of Schedule 1 to the Bill (Section 12 to 17);
• allow the Welsh Ministers to issue statutory guidance regarding the procedures for making byelaws, the enforcement of byelaws and anything related to these matters (Section 18);
• include two schedules to the Bill, the first is a two part schedule; Part one of Schedule 1 lists the enactments under which byelaws are to be made in accordance with the alternative procedure and part two of Schedule 1 lists the enactments under which byelaws may be enforced by means of fixed penalties ( Schedule 1 to the Bill).  The second schedule details all the minor and consequential amendments the Bill makes to other enactments (Schedule 2).

I shall be making a legislative statement in plenary tomorrow to introduce the Bill.