Overview and Scrutiny Bill

At the start of February, John Denham announced governement support for a Private Members' Bill called the Overview and Scrutiny Bill. This bill is intended to allow Councils to compel responsible organisations to attend Scrutiny meeting where they explain things like "like dug up roads, poor facilities at train stations, or threatened local bus routes". It sounds as if it would be tailor made for the problems we get all the time in Kensal Green, like the consatant digging up of Palermo Road by one company after another, or the dreadful state of Willesden Junction.

The problem will be if, given the very small amount of parliamentary time left in this Parliament, it gets talked out. Even worse is the fact that the MP sponsoring it is David Chaytor, who is being charged with false accounting offences, something of a distraction from shepherding a bill through.