A Bill to make provision relating to the licensing of charging, publicly-available, privately-owned car parks; to require local authorities to introduce a licensing system for such car parks; to enable local authorities to recover the costs of such a licensing scheme from car park operators; and for connected purposes.
In progressCurrent stage: 2nd reading (Commons)
The story so farThe Consumer Protection (Private Car Parks) Bill was introduced in the House of Commons on 30 November 2010 by Henry Smith (Conservative). It is now at second reading in the House of Commons. Second reading is the first debate on the overall principle of the bill; if the bill clears it, detailed committee scrutiny follows.
What the bill does
<p>The Bill would require local authorities in England to introduce a licensing scheme for charging, publicly-available, privately-owned car parks. </p><p>The requirements on local authorities would be set out in regulations made by the Secretary of State by statutory instrument, and would include:</p><ul><li>the criteria which private parking operators must satisfy to acquire a licence</li><li>the maximum level of fixed penalty charges which could be imposed under the licensing scheme</li><li>provision for the costs incurred by each local authority in setting up and administering the licensing process to be recovered by a levy on private parking operators operating within that local authority area</li><li>provision for local authorities to permit exemptions from the licensing scheme</li><li>details of the penalties which should apply to any non-licensed private parking operator.</li></ul>
