Legal The laws of (traffic) motion Derek Millard-Smith considers the new powers granted to local authorities under the Traffic Management Act 2004 to manage moving traffic enforcement (MTE) oving traffic offences have, up until recently, been enforced either by the police, by local authorities within London and in Wales, and by Transport for London. However, a new tranche of statutory instruments allows local authorities in England outside of London to leverage powers to enforce against moving traffic offences and issue penalty charge notices (PCNs). Moving traffic offences are defined under the Traffic Management Act 2004 (TMA)* and cover offences such as going the wrong way down a one-way street, banned left or right turns, driving within a bus lane or stopping in a yellow box junction. Following the introduction of the statutory instruments in January 2022, these powers have been extended to all local authorities within England and Wales and came into force on 31 May 2022. Local authorities will have to apply to the Secretary of State to get a designation order that will allow them to become the enforcement authority as defined under the TMA. They will then be able to use the powers under the TMA to enforce against moving traffic offences. While the police and highways authority within a given council will still be able to enforce against moving traffic offences, this will be subject to any agreement between the police and the local authority, which means the police are likely to stop enforcing such contraventions and allow the local authority to pursue the motorist via their new powers. M Application for enforcement powers Prior to applying to the Secretary of State which, in practice, will delegate the consideration of application to the Department for Transport (DfT) there will be several expectations that will need to have been met. Firstly, a public consultation will need to take place within the local authority. This will have to take place for a statutory minimum of six weeks and will have to consult the public on: the type of contraventions to be enforced where enforcement is likely to take place. Agreement from the public to the principle of enforcing against such offences is not advised. Secondly the local authority will have to engage with the local police constabulary to support their application and ensure the application is clear what contraventions the local authority will be enforcing, and which will remain with the police. This guidance was circulated to local authorities by the DfT and highlights the discretion local authorities will have to enable them to choose what types of offences they enforce against and where. For example, some may choose to blend their enforcement approach with their environmental objectives by implementing widespread bus lane infringements, ensuring buses are as viable a transport option as possible. Or they may implement longer term planning initiatives to designate traffic flows throughout their local area by restricting access of larger articulated vehicles from a given area. The DfT also provided statutory guidance indicating that when these powers come into force, first-time offenders are given warning notices instead of a PCN. While this will help compliance, any sort of soft launch 22 PN Oct 2022 pp22-23 Legal.indd 22 23/09/2022 11:34