Mark Garner, MP for Wyre Forest, has been making a strong case in Parliament for the need to tackle the problem of metal theft. Over the last week, Mark, who is vice chair of the All Party Parliamentary Group for Combating Metal Theft, has been meeting with interested local groups, speaking in debates and meeting Government ministers to deal with the issue.
Mark’s first meeting was with the Wyre Forest Safety Partnership to discuss the projects that the Partnership has 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.
The issues discussed that this meeting stood him in good stead for the speech he made in a debate on metal theft, in the House of Commons Tuesday. During his speech, Mark bought up a number of issues to do with tightening up the scrap metal trade. These included making it possible for the police to search unlicensed scrap metal yards more easily and making it an offense to own stolen scrap metal as well as to sell it. He concluded that:
“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.”
Today he and other members of the APPG met with two ministers, Mark Prisk, Minister for Business and Enterprise and Lord Henley, Minister for Crime Prevention, to discuss the Government’s plan of action.
Mark is confident that the Government are listening to the views that were expressed by the APPG and other groups concerned. After 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.”