Natural Environment and Rural Communities Bill

I am sure that the noble Baroness is right: it is a question of degree, but who is to decide if it is serious enough to be irreconcilable? It seems to me that Natural England, the independent body we are setting up should do so. It may be painful for it, but it should have the duty to decide when there are such conflicts, whether more extreme than the ones I have given by way of example, or ones which are truly irreconcilable. That is what we have to decide. In addition to being wrong in practice, the amendment would not help to protect our most treasured natural resources, such as SSSIs, Natura 2000 sites, AONBs and national parks, because the purposes of national parks are laid down in Section 61 of the Environment Act 1995:"““(a) Conserving and enhancing the natural beauty, wildlife and cultural heritage of the areas specified;""(b) Promoting opportunities for the understanding and enjoyment of the special qualities of those areas by the public””." The Act goes on to make clear that any relevant authority,"““if it appears that there is a conflict between those purposes shall attach greater weight to the purpose of conserving and enhancing the natural beauty, wildlife and cultural heritage of the area comprised in the national park””." That is what is known as the Sandford principle, taken from the reverend Lord Sandford’s recommendations in 1974 that enjoyment of national parks,"““shall be in a manner, and by such means, as will leave their natural beauty unimpaired for the enjoyment of this and future generations””." Natural England will be bound, like all other relevant authorities, to give greater weight to conservation in these specially designated areas. No other similar NDPB has a conflict resolution clause. A glance at the founding legislation of other such bodies in this area prompts the question: what problem is this amendment seeking to solve? The Countryside Agency, which has statutory duties for conservation, access and rural economic development does not have a conflict resolution clause. The board of the Countryside Agency, which noble Lords will remember is one of the organisations that will form Natural England, has not suggested that problems with its current statutory responsibilities should be resolved in this Bill by giving Natural England a conflict resolution clause. The Countryside Council for Wales and Scottish Natural Heritage, which combine most of the functions being taken over by Natural England, do not have a conflict resolution clause. Nor does the Environment Agency, where it could be argued that there is great potential for conflict between environmental and economic objectives. In short, we want Natural England to be more than the sum of its parts. It will bring with it the Countryside Agency’s expertise in promoting positive access management and administering legal restrictions on access where necessary; English Nature’s expertise of advising on nature conservation restrictions and enforcement of byelaws on national nature reserves; and the Rural Development Service’s excellent track record, expertise and experience in administering the environmental stewardship schemes. We want Natural England to draw these together, sharing good practice and ideas and integrating delivery. Instances of irreconcilable conflict between access and conservation are rare in practice—and I believe that is the consensus around the House. English Nature’s recent figures about access on Sites of Special Scientific Interest exemplify this point. More than 55 per cent of SSSIs are on open access land. These are our most valuable nature conservation and earth heritage sites. Yet, even here, in areas already recognised in legislation for their importance to nature conservation, irreconcilable conflicts are extremely rare. There are no SSSIs in access land in England where preventing access to protect flora and fauna all year round has so far been necessary. To date, only 0.3 per cent of SSSI access land is subject to partial access exclusion all year round, and only 1.06 per cent of SSSI access land has so far required a seasonal exclusion. Similarly, in the Peak District National Park—one of our most visited national parks—there has been access in place under the Countryside and Rights of Way Act 2000 since last September, but there have as yet been no major conflicts between access and conservation.