SOUTH Swindon MP Julia Drown met with council licensing officer Lionel Starling and an official from the Department of Culture, Media and Sport.

The meeting was to discuss the new licensing bills expected to come into force next year.

She also talked about small businesses and Swindon's Moto-cross.

Ms Drown said: "I am keen to support small businesses.

"But one of my concerns with the Government's licensing bill was that it suggested all businesses which apply for a licence, or for a change in their licensing conditions, has to place two adverts in local newspapers.

"At a cost of £400, that would be a heavy burden for small businesses and it would not be the most effective way of letting local people know of the application."

"Similar rules may have applied when councils received representations costing council tax payers considerable sums of money."

Ms Drown has also been pushing the issue that moto-cross should be included within the bill.

Ms Drown added: "For a decade, there have been real difficulties because of the lack of regulation of moto-cross events.

"In 1998, 28,000 people arrived at Foxhill causing traffic jams on roads ill-equipped to cope.

"The council had to deal with tons of mud that had been dumped on the road, which was not only a major headache, it made a substantial dent in the council's budget."