Natural Environment and Rural Communities Bill

My Lords, I thank the Minister for going into that detail, as we raised a number of issues, and he has certainly tried to deal with quite a few. I also thank the noble Baroness, Lady Miller of Chilthorne Domer, for supporting the elements of my amendments that she spoke to. It is interesting to realise that a code of practice is already in place and being used by English Nature. The only thing is that nothing draws people’s attention to that fact other than our debate. The noble Baroness, Lady Miller of Chilthorne Domer, made a sound point, for it is something that could be checked and slightly reviewed, because of the enlarged powers proposed for Natural England. The Minister also made a useful point—again, not mentioned in the Bill—that the making of an agreement was actually subject to agreement. There is no particular power for Natural England to force the agreement. I will read what the Minister said more carefully in Hansard when it appears tomorrow. The fact there is a default position of five years perhaps answers, in some ways, the question of the ongoing value of an asset when something untoward happens. It would be interesting if the Minister was prepared to see whether, when agreements were drawn up, some escape clause could be provided if the agreement happened to be for a longer time. That difficulty might need to be overcome, but in the mean time I beg leave to withdraw the amendment. Amendment, by leave, withdrawn. [Amendments Nos. 160 to 162 not moved.] [Amendments Nos. 163 to 170 had been withdrawn from the Marshalled List.] Clause 7 agreed to. Clause 8 [Experimental schemes]: