Natural Environment and Rural Communities Bill

My Lords, I am grateful to my noble friend and to the noble Baroness, Lady Miller of Chilthorne Domer, for their support. If the noble Lord, Lord Chorley, will forgive me for putting it this way, he could perfectly well support me. There is absolutely no problem in my mind for Natural England to have to make a judgment on the siting of a wind farm in an area of outstanding natural beauty and on the risk of global warming. It is a perfectly proper judgment to make. If Natural England does not feel that it is up to the task, and if the Minister were to deny that it was up to that task, then frankly we have all failed. So I hear what the noble Lord, Lord Chorley, says, but, with the greatest deference, it would be perfectly reasonable for that sort of judgment to be made. Somebody will have to make it. If Natural England is properly to care for the countryside, in its widest context, then it seems to me that it is a proper judgment that it has to make. The Minister made all sorts of statements about the importance of this subject in the work of Natural England. Of course, I entirely accept that Natural England will not be an international player in this matter, but it will be a serious player in all countryside affairs. There will not be one bit of the countryside in the whole of our United Kingdom that will not be affected in some way—maybe sometimes beneficially, but in other cases adversely—by this subject. The Minister has said so. Curiously enough, I understand his reluctance to see this subject mentioned in this clause, but I do not accept his judgment. I think his judgment is wrong. The amendment should be in. The subject is significantly important that we ought to put it there. Therefore we should test the opinion of the House. On Question, Whether the said amendment (No. 1) shall be agreed to? *Their Lordships divided: Contents, 99; Not-Contents, 143.