Planning Bill

I should be happy to see the Government’s position in writing, but I hope that the Minister recognises that there is some inconsistency in setting up a body that is deliberately designed to manage the sea-bed and to have authority over all that happens on our offshore development, and then placing another body on top and saying that when it comes to really big schemes someone else will have the responsibility of being the strategic managers of such projects. Given that the two Bills are following closely on each other that may be a formula for tension and disaster in the sense that two departments will each be pushing an agenda, which could lead to a great deal of confusion—not in the Minister’s case because he can represent both interests. But in Whitehall generally, I am not sure that the arrangement that the Government seek to put in place is durable. Will the Minister not only write to us but think again about this aspect of the Bill?