Natural Environment and Rural Communities Bill

My Lords, perhaps surprisingly, I would like to give a word of encouragement to the noble Baroness for her amendment. I get worried when I hear people beginning to talk about the need to retain a balance. That sounds to me like the beginning of the end. Retaining a balance really means, ““Come on, let’s be reasonable. There are all these economic and other considerations, and we’ve got to give them serious attention””. My experience suggests that there is never a shortage of advocacy for the immediate material economic arguments. If somebody has an economic, profit-making enterprise at hand, they will be forceful and use every device at their disposal to make sure that their case is heard. Therefore, anything that can be done to underline that the intention of the Bill is to keep within our territory this rare qualitative dimension to our life—it is so essential for the psychological and physical well-being of our people—should be there in specific language. However, I am not sure whether it would be appropriate to vote on the amendment tonight. The wording of the Bill is pretty explicit. The Minister seems to be demonstrating that the Government want to give very clear guidance to Natural England about the responsibilities in the future, so I shall listen with great interest to what he says.