Marine and Coastal Access Bill [HL]

I shall speak to my Amendments 25, 26 and 44, which are grouped with Amendment 21. Amendment 25 returns us to the objective of the MMO. I should like to ask the Minister about the big political consensus which I think has been achieved on all sides. Did the Labour Party members who signed up to the manifesto, the RSPB, the World Wildlife Fund, wildlife trusts members and the public, including Surfers against Sewage, campaign so hard for the Marine Bill simply in order to have an organisation that could manage the bureaucracy a bit better, or did they do it to promote a healthy marine ecosystem? I strongly suggest that they were motivated by the latter. The degree of consensus between those bodies was considerable. If the Bill stays as it is, they will be disappointed. The amendment tabled by the noble Baroness, Lady Young, has a lot to commend it, and I am looking forward to hearing her speak to it. However, when push comes to shove, a decision will have to be made. That is why her amendment is important. Parliament should guide that decision and establish the priorities. My Amendment 26 attempts to address what sustainable development means in this context. Consistency is probably the last thing we want. Sustainable development in a marine conservation zone should mean that the environment has priority over everything else, but in a less protected marine conservation area it will sometimes have priority so that recreation and so on can still occur. The economic factors will be far more important in a marine area outside a conservation zone which is used for a number of other purposes, such as renewable energy, dredging or perhaps a combination of uses. So consistency should not necessarily have the high priority that the Bill suggests. It would be better to consider that sustainable development may mean different things in different areas of the sea. I do not feel that that is recognised in the current wording. Amendment 44 requires the Secretary of State to give guidance that pays attention to the primary objective of the MMO to promote a healthy marine ecosystem throughout UK marine waters. If the Secretary of State is accountable, he needs to be clear about where the priority lies.