Natural Environment and Rural Communities Bill

I support Amendments Nos. 242 and 255 and underline the arguments already made that Clause 17 should stand part of the Bill. The problems of our rural areas are underlined almost daily in your Lordships’ House with questions on subjects ranging from the common agricultural policy to rural development such as rural broadband, rural housing and the environment. There is most definitely a need for an independent rural advocate, the CRC—whose position would carry huge weight across Whitehall in the centre and the regional development agencies—with strategic responsibilities, as proposed in Amendment No. 255, regarding the three pillars,"““the social, economic and environmental state of rural England””."