Natural Environment and Rural Communities Bill

I am grateful to the noble Baroness for tabling the amendment and enabling the debate, because this is perhaps one of the most difficult issues in the Bill. It is certainly the down side of having an integrated agency, because when it was simply English Nature it was much easier to see exactly where the clear duty would lie. However, it is not the only agency to face the issue; I declare an interest as vice-president of the Council for National Parks. There are many occasions when a conflict can arise. I am sure that the Minister will be aware of the very difficult decision that was taken in Wales by the Pembrokeshire National Park over the Bluestone development, which caused enormous rifts in all sorts of ways within the national park community, within the local authority and within the wider community that had interests in the countryside. There were many arguments on both sides about the detrimental effect on the landscape, the right of people to enjoy some sort of access at affordable prices to that area and the enormous economic benefits that the local authority felt that it might bring to the area. It was a difficult decision, and following the arguments through their various stages is a good example of where some things are extremely difficult to resolve. At the end of the day, the resolution probably needs to take place in a democratic forum rather than in the forum of an agency. However, Natural England will have to resolve some difficult issues. I acknowledge that the Select Committee in another place was clear in its endorsement of the Sandford principle. I was interested in the fact that when he was replying on that, the Minister, Jim Knight, said:"““I would like to give further thought to whether, in a non-statutory form, the guiding principles by which Natural England will be governed should be published or made available to the Committee””.—[Official Report, Commons Standing Committee A, 21/5/05; col. 51.]" I have not had sight of any such guiding principles that the Minister mentioned. I wonder whether they have been drafted or published, or whether there is any intention to do so before the Bill proceeds any further through the House, because it would be extremely helpful to those of us who are deciding what to do about this matter.