Natural Environment and Rural Communities Bill

My Lords, this has been a passionate and very good debate. Emotions run high on this issue. There is a real difference of opinion here and it is much better to acknowledge that than to pretend there is none. I will try to pick up one or two of the questions before concluding my remarks: Why is Clause 97 in Part 9, headed ““Miscellaneous””? Because it covers wider issues than those dealt with in Part 5, headed ““National Parks and the Broads””. Clause 97 covers the definition of natural beauty for nature reserves, AONBs and SSSIs. That is why it is placed where it is in the Bill. We believe we are restoring the law to what we and others believed it to be before the Meyrick judgment. We are not trying to change the criteria from what we believed them to be before the Meyrick judgement. That is the basis upon which my amendment, Amendment No. 131, is laid. I know that there is some concern—great concern in some quarters—that this has not been debated in the elected Chamber. That is right, it has not been. As the noble Earl acknowledged himself, however, the Meyrick judgment was post the transfer of the Bill from the Commons to this House. It would have been impossible for that to have happened, if this were to be part of the Bill. The noble Earl also asked what additional benefits to the public there would be with any new national parks. The South Downs is the last area referred to in Hobhouse that is still outstanding. National parks have two purposes. One is the conservation and enhancement of natural beauty and so on, and the other is the promotion, understanding and enjoyment of natural beauty. AONBs have just one purpose—the conservation and enhancement of natural beauty. In our view, AONBs do not provide the same opportunities for outdoor informal recreation as do national parks. The noble Baroness properly asked why the Hobhouse criterion was not included in the 1949 Act. The Act needed to be flexible in general and did not need to go into detail. She also asked why the new criteria are ambiguous. The meaning of ““natural beauty”” is not expanded; it simply clarifies what we already understand it to mean. The word ““wildlife”” is in our amendment as it helps to determine how landscape is formed. The term ““cultural heritage”” simply reflects how man has helped to shape landscape through the ages. I would argue that the existing national parks have strongly reflected that in practice, but I remind the House that inquiries have to be held in considering new designations. I was asked whether the objection process would be open to the public over the new terms for the South Downs. This could well result in the reopening of the inquiry, and the inquiry inspector will consider what needs to be asked of interested parties. I turn to Amendment No. 132 in the name of the noble Baroness, Lady Byford. I do not think that the noble Baroness would disagree that it would have the effect of putting the Meyrick interpretation unambiguously into primary legislation. With regard to natural beauty, it would specify that only the physical beauty of the land would be considered and that it would need to have a high degree of relative naturalness. The noble Baroness suggested that it was clear what that meant, but I disagree with her. I agree that the expression used is too restrictive, but what does,"““a high degree of relative naturalness””," mean? That phrase is not defined but I assume that it is intended to remove parkland, dairy farms and any other well maintained farmland from national parks. It would also exclude wildlife and cultural heritage considerations—factors which contribute to the landscapes that we all cherish and which, as I have shown, were certainly considered eligible for inclusion in the 11 national parks designated immediately after the 1949 Act. Amendment No. 132 would also narrow the second criterion for designation—namely, the opportunities which the land affords for open-air recreation. It seeks to restrict that only to opportunities which the land affords ““at the present time””—a phrase which I take to refer to the time that the assessment of a given piece of land is carried out. That could exclude potentially suitable land just because, for example, it did not happen to have a voluntary access agreement in place when the assessment was made and it might preclude the taking into account of the reasonably foreseeable fruits of a national park authority’s role in promoting such agreements. What of rights of way that were in very poor condition at the time of the assessment? Would that mean that opportunities were not in evidence ““at the present time””? It is inherent in the word ““opportunities”” that an appropriate degree of looking to the future was intended by the 1949 Act. That point was accepted by both sides—claimants and judge—in the Meyrick judgment. In our opinion, Amendment No. 132 seeks to go well beyond the Meyrick judgment in narrowing the designation criteria for national parks. As I have said, the Government’s amendment, when read together with our new Clause 47, and those of the loyal Opposition offer two quite different visions of national parks. The Government’s amendments offer a continuation of previous policies in which national parks contain a mix of land types offering a range of recreational experiences. The contrary vision offered by the Meyrick judgment and Amendments Nos. 132 and 170 is that, in effect, national parks should be a much more exclusive concept. Indeed, it is difficult to disagree with those who have said that it is hard to see any way in which national parks could now be created and that they would perhaps be difficult to find in the UK, being made up only of land which is wild and relatively untouched by man and where there is already a high level of access for public recreation. I hope that, of the two alternatives which have been set fairly before the House, your Lordships will prefer the Government’s version. On Question, Whether the said amendment (No. 131) shall be agreed to? Their Lordships divided: Contents, 195; Not-Contents, 104. [Amendment No. 132 not moved.] Clause 58 [Procedure for orders designating National Parks]: