I move amendment No. 37:
In page 15, lines 9 to 18, to delete subsection (3) and substitute the following:
"(3) A person on whom notice is served pursuant to subsection (1) shall be given 14 days from the date of receipt of the notice to make submissions in writing to the local authority in relation to measures specified in the notice, and the local authority, having considered any such submissions, may amend the specified measures, and shall inform the person of such amendment, confirmation or revocation by serving a final notice on the person within 14 days from the receipt of the said submissions.”.
Section 17 states that where a local authority considers measures are necessary to prevent or limit litter caused by the holding of a major event, it may serve a warning notice but before doing so, it must notify the person of the proposed measures and give them a reasonable opportunity to make a submission. The notice is then amended, confirmed or revoked and the person is informed. My amendment short circuits this to some extent. The local authority would be obliged to give a warning notice to the promoter or the organiser and give them an opportunity to make a submission within a specified time which the local authority would then consider. The local authority would amend, confirm or revoke its notice and the person would be informed accordingly.
The reason I tabled the amendment is to make it mandatory on a local authority to issue a notice when preventative measures are required. The amendment would require the local authority to serve the warning notice first and then allow the person to make a submission. That makes the procedure more forceful than that contained in the section. The Minister may say it would be better to enter into negotiations initially but if we serve the notice first, we put the onus on the promoter to explain why the measures should not apply.
We spoke about litter plans earlier and local authorities should have a standard litter prevention strategy for such major public events. An initial warning notice which would be based on this standard prevention strategy should be given to the promoter who would then respond rather than enter negotiations first. In addition, the amendments allow a specified time within which submissions must be made. The Minister said the words "a reasonable opportunity" are a little too vague. This amendment makes the procedure more forceful than it is at present and it cuts down on time wasted prior to an event.