Draft Protection of Freedoms Act 2012 (Definition of Relevant Land) (Amendment) Order 2025

Olly Glover Excerpts

Tuesday 21st October 2025 General Committees

[Olly Glover (Didcot and Wantage) (LD)]

It is a pleasure to serve under your chairship, Sir Jeremy. In principle, we in the Liberal Democrats welcome this change, which from a technical perspective is logical and makes sense. It is also welcome that the Government chose to undertake a consultation even though they were not compelled to do so. That is always welcome, as long as the consultation is timely and does not drag on for years, which in this case, happily, it has not.

I do, however, very much agree with the remarks made by the hon. Member for Mid Buckinghamshire. Our support needs to be caveated with the fact that all Members will have had a great deal of casework from constituents, driven insane at times by car parking operators and providers that lack transparency, are unaccountable, and can sometimes be unreasonable. The focus in this delegated legislation on making sure that signage is fit for purpose is welcome, but I would also welcome some remarks from the Minister on what else the Government are doing to make sure that the regulatory framework is such that private car parking providers are fit for purpose, are accountable, and provide a forum for appeal where they have got things wrong.