Natural Environment and Rural Communities Bill

: My Lords, I have to confess to being even more sceptical than any of those who have already spoken on this group of amendments. For a relatively small country, we probably have about enough parks and areas of outstanding beauty already. It sounds as if we are finding that we cannot afford the degree of facilities, in national parks, to which we have become accustomed. This happens at a time when, apparently, we cannot afford sufficient nurses to run our hospitals, and when the raising of greater amounts of taxation is widely unpopular. For all these kinds of reasons, it is time to have second thoughts on all these amendments, and perhaps to leave things well alone.