Wyre Forest MP highlights 'scourge' of metal theft in Commons (From Kidderminster Shuttle)

Wyre Forest MP highlights 'scourge' of metal theft in Commons

9:20am Friday 10th February 2012 in News

WYRE Forest’s MP has made a case in Parliament for the need to tackle the problem of metal theft.

During this week, Conservative Mark Garnier, who is vice-chairman of the All Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) for Combating Metal Theft, met interested local groups, spoke in debates and met Government ministers to deal with the issue.

His first meeting was with the Wyre Forest Safety Partnership to discuss the projects the Partnership had carried out regarding the prevention and detection of metal thefts in the area.

The partnership consists of the police representatives from Wyre Forest District Council, the Community Housing Group and local councillors.

Issues discussed in that meeting primed him for the speech he made in a debate on metal theft in the House of Commons on Tuesday.

During his speech, Mr Garnier bought up a number of issues to do with tightening up the scrap metal trade.

They included making it possible for the police to search unlicensed scrap metal yards more easily and making it an offence to own stolen scrap metal as well as to sell it.

He concluded by saying: “Clearly, [the trade in stolen scrap metal] is a big problem and a lot of people are keen to sort it out. The sooner we deal with it, the better.”

The following day he and other members of the APPG met Ministers, Mark Prisk, Minister for Business and Enterprise and Lord Henley, Minister for Crime Prevention, to discuss the Government’s plan of action.

Mr Garnier said he was confident the Government was listening to the views expressed by the APPG and other groups concerned.

Following the meeting he said: “The Government have already started to make moves to deal with the problem of metal theft by introducing legislation to ban the use of cash payments in scrap metal yards.

“This is testament to how seriously ministers are taking this issue but it does not mean that neither I nor the APPG should rest on our laurels.

“We must maintain our momentum so that churches, businesses and rural communities around the country can be rid of the scourge of scrap metal theft.”