Natural Environment and Rural Communities Bill

I declare an interest as chairman of the South Downs Joint Committee, which is a getting-together of the Sussex Downs area of outstanding natural beauty and the East Hampshire area of outstanding natural beauty in a committee that is formed by the local authorities together with the Countryside Agency. I have listened with great care to what the noble Baroness said in moving the amendment, and I appreciate the difficulty of having priorities among the objectives of Natural England. However, it is worth considering that it is not about the access priority, which others have spoken to, but about the last priority:"““Contributing in other ways to social and economic well-being through the management of the natural environment””." It is significant that later in the Bill, in Clause 58, the restraint on spending money on economic and social well-being is removed. It always was that it should be done,"““without incurring significant expenditure in doing so””." The fact that this is being removed must be given some significance. In my judgment, therefore, there is every reason why the board and management of this new and very important body will be conscious that their predecessors were restrained financially on how much they could commit to social and economic well-being, and that that restraint has now been lifted—and why? I am of the opinion that to keep the balance and the essential importance of the first two priorities, it is only reasonable to give every favourable consideration to the amendment.