Natural Environment and Rural Communities Bill

I have great sympathy with my noble friend Lady Byford’s amendment. Whether correctly drafted or not, such an amendment is needed. Do we really need to go down this route? The briefing from English Nature says that there certainly are areas that have been given exclusion; 44 SSSIs out of over 1,000 qualify for access and little over 1 per cent of SSSIs have been given partial exemption—I presume, for breeding seasons. That will come as a great relief to those, such as the noble Lord, Lord Judd, who rightly argue for not limiting open public access. We are not talking about a large area, but a very small area. That is important. Clarity is needed in this area. The countryside has an ever-increasing population. We are increasingly pushing the habitat of our wildlife on a daily basis. We often read in the press of wildlife whose numbers or varieties are diminishing through problems that we cannot understand. There is irreconcilable conflict in sensitive areas and fragile habitats. In my experience at home, public access was allowed across an area containing ponds and lakes and waterfowl in that area ceased to breed. There are now few waterfowl living there. That case was like the examples we are arguing about and it resulted in human beings winning over wildlife. I am anxious to ensure that in future we come second to wildlife in the pecking order.