As MPs one of our main roles is to legislate – to pass new
laws and regulations that address the current and future needs of the country
to improve the way we live. Most of the legislation we pass is initiated by the
government which will mainly come from the Cabinet members.
However, occasional as a local backbench MP you are able to
influence the government to pass legislation that they would not have ever
considered without your input. Last week I had one of these opportunities.
The Public Lavatories (Non-Domestic rating) Bill will
probably not go down as the most exciting or glamorous piece of legislation the
House of Commons will debate in this Parliament. For me, however, it
represented the culmination of an eight year personal mission.
It was in 2012 when I was the Cabinet Member on Cornwall
Council with responsibility for public toilets that I first became aware of the
fact that public toilets were liable for non-domestic rates, or business rates.
At that time Cornwall Council were seeking to devolve the running
of toilets from the Unitary Council to Town and Parish Councils and it was one
of my duties to try to enable this to happen. I quickly found that one of the
biggest elements of the cost of running public toilets was business rates. This
was a barrier to parish councils taking on these facilities.
In a place like Cornwall public toilets are essential for
locals and tourists unlike as well as being vital for elderly people or those
with health conditions that mean they need regular access to toilets. Therefore,
at that time I wrote to the then Secretary of State and suggested that toilets
should be made exempt from rates. He agreed and said the government would look
into this.
Three years later in 2015 when I was first elected as MP, I
raised this with the then Prime Minister, David Cameron, when he visited
Cornwall. In one of those odd coincidences, this conversation took place on 16th
July 2015, precisely fives years to the day that the bill to enable this to
happen passed its first stages in the Commons, last Thursday.
It has been frustrating over the past three years that we
have not been able to find the time to put this legislation to Parliament. With
the turmoil of all that has gone in that time – General Elections, Brexit, hung
Parliaments, and of course the pandemic of recent months, it was good to
eventually get to debate and vote this bill through.
It was quite fulfilling, that after eight years I was able
to speak about my reasons for wanting this legislation passed and to feel that
I had played a significant part in making this change happen. It will save our
local Town Councils tens of thousands of pounds every year, and even for many
of our smaller Parish Councils the savings will be a significant part of their
annual expenditure. The bill also allows for this exemption to be back dated to
last April which will mean these savings will apply to the current year which I
know will be very welcome.
I have always been a big supporter of our local councils
which within the context of local government in Cornwall play an increasingly
important role in serving the communities they represent. They have of course
also played a key role in recent months in supporting their communities through
the pandemic and lockdown. Providing vital local support, especially to elderly
and vulnerable people.
Many of them have seen their costs increase whilst some have
lost income through not having revenue from car parks and other sources. One
thing I have been highlighting recently is that the government has made money available
to support the Town and Parish Councils in Cornwall. This money has been part
of the almost £40million that the government has granted to Cornwall Council
and Ministers have been very clear that they expect Cornwall Council to pass
some of this on to Parish Councils to ensure they are not in financial
difficulties.
Sadly, so far Cornwall Council have refused to make any
funding available to our local councils. Just this last week Cornwall Council
have received a further £5million from the government and I hope that they will
now make some of this funding available to Town and Parish Councils across
Cornwall who are in urgent need of additional support.
