ARE banana skins a problem on Plymouth's pavements? In 1918 the City Fathers apparently thought so.

Perhaps inspired by the early slapstick movies of Charlie Chaplin, the city's Good Rule and Government bylaw of that year banned anyone from "throwing or leaving any orange peel, banana skin or other dangerous substance on any footway".

It is one of thousands of clauses in scores of bylaws passed by successive city councils.

Now the Government has paved the way for the council to get rid of outdated or just plain silly bylaws.

Local government minister Grant Shapps has outlined plans to give councils a new power to review and revoke outdated bylaws, and create new ones, without seeking permission from Whitehall.

A trawl of Plymouth's bylaws over the past 130 years reveals a mixed bag of sensible, silly and plain outdated.

It may be time to rid ourselves of the 1920 Luggage Porters and Light Porters bylaw, there being a distinct shortage of porters in the city. "A porter when plying for hire and not actually hired should not loiter in any public thoroughfare," the bylaw says.

Clause 11, however, is needed more than ever: "No person shall in any street or public place ... make or use any profane, indecent or obscene language, gesture or conduct."

And clause 17 outlaws 'willful jostling' — which is well known for causing obscene language.

Another clause in the same bylaw bans bulls over 12 months old from public places — regardless of whether they're willfully jostling or not, it appears.

Personal hygiene was high on the agenda. In 1932, when few private homes had baths, the City Fathers harrumphed: "No person shall use any soap or similar substance in any swimming bath."

I'll drink to that — though not on a boat, according to the 1920 boats and vessels bylaw, which says no that boatman 'should suffer any drunken or disorderly person to embark', which is bad news for today's booze cruises on the Sound.

Hygiene was still a problem in 1963, when the hairdressers and barbers bylaw said no hairdresser or barber shall attend to any customer unless: his hands are clean; he is wearing clean and washable overalls; he keeps any open sore on an exposed part of his body effectively covered.

It is not known whether that led to a spate of unemployed barbers, but a 1982 bylaw suggested a problem.

"A person who is offensively unclean in person or in dress or who is suffering from an offensive disease, shall not enter the Museum," it said.

And it went on: "A person shall not ... persist in sleeping in the Museum."

The 1925 tramways, light railways and omnibuses bylaw throws light on the British tradition of queuing, saying: "On occasions when six or more persons are waiting at any stopping station or terminus ... they should form in a line or queue ... and no person shall endeavour to take a place ... out of order."

Quite right, too.

FOOTNOTE: stepping on a banana skin may be more common than you think. In 2001 Britain recorded more than 300 banana-related accidents, most of which were caused by slipping on a peel. Perhaps that's one law we should hang on to.