Marine and Coastal Access Bill [HL]

We have moved toward inshore waters, yet I am still in deep water regarding these amendments and the difficulties of definition. Noble Lords have some real concerns and arguments, and I appreciate their significance while wrestling, at this stage, with the issue of definition. Let me add that if I was in any way discourteous to the noble Duke, the Duke of Montrose, I did not intend it. On the next amendment to be moved—Amendment 83, in the name of the noble Lord, Lord Taylor—we will be discussing the economic zone as it applies to Wales. That has a great deal to do with common fisheries policy, and it seemed to me that it fitted more into that economic debate. I did not want to be discourteous to the noble Duke who, no doubt, is absolutely right to take the first opportunity that he can. However, I am reeling with quite difficult problems of definition, and taking on the common fisheries policy at that stage was probably rather more than I could accomplish. Regarding what I said on that first definition, I want to make one point absolutely clear, as I may not have expressed myself as clearly as I ought to the Committee. The economic zone will only stretch to 200 miles; the law of the sea defines that for us. Yet, as I indicated, we have interests in the continental shelf beyond that, because of particular geological features. We seek to exploit them under the Continental Shelf Act 1964, and that is included in Clause 40(1)(c) of the Bill. As I indicated in responding to the first amendment, all three clauses are part of the definition issue; we are talking about the heart of the Bill, as it concerns marine development and planning. I seek to make that point as clearly as I can, and confess to any inadequacy in my earlier remarks. I am now in difficulty, not least because the noble Baroness, Lady Miller, entices me with the roles that local authorities can play within planning development and concerns in areas immediately by the coast—and not only that, for salt water can go a little further inland, as she indicated. Meanwhile, the noble Lord, Lord Taylor, has upbraided me lest I stray too far along that line and include most of Lincolnshire within the framework of the Bill, which I certainly do not want. The Committee will recognise, then, that I seek to tread a rather difficult line between the two positions with some care. In the Bill, the UK marine area is used as the basis for defining that part of the sea that will be subject to marine planning and licensing. For these purposes, we believe it important for the UK marine area to include all places containing seawater that is exchanged with the open sea. This enables us to regulate effectively all activities—and I accept the representations from the noble Baroness, Lady Miller, on how extensive activities can be in coastal areas—that may significantly impact the marine area. The licensing of these activities is currently regulated under Part II of the Food and Environment Protection Act 1985, which applies from mean high water spring tide outwards. Since the licensing provisions in that Act are to be replaced by this Bill, any change to the definition of the UK marine area, as the noble Baroness was so persuasively suggesting, would mean changing a well established and understood definition that we have applied without difficulty for the past 20 years. Therefore, rather than having clear difficulty in defining boundaries, where we have strong arguments about where boundaries should be and one perspective clashes with another, the noble Baroness will appreciate why we seek—if I may mix my metaphors—to build on reasonably secure foundations. That is because of how the Food and Environment Protection Act licensing system has operated over the past 20 years. A large number of developments taking place landward of mean low tide can have significant detrimental effects on the marine environment. It would be anomalous for these activities to fall outside the very regime that has been designed in the Bill specifically to help protect the marine environment. For this reason, it is also important that we are able to create marine plans for the full extent of the area within which licences are required. That will ensure that all licensing decisions are taken within the planning framework; to look at it another way, decisions on issuing licences will be one of the key means by which the policies set out in plans would give effect in the real world. I am conscious that by using, "““mean high water spring tide””," as the Bill defines it, an overlap arises between the marine regimes that we are discussing and existing terrestrial planning and development consent regimes, which extend down to the low water mark. The noble Baroness, Lady Miller, gave a clear articulation of those interests. Yet we are not involved in a mistake here; a deliberate and conscious act of policy underpins the Bill. We believe that an overlap between the planning regimes will help to encourage and support integration between the two systems. We have made specific provision in Schedule 6 to require marine planning authorities to notify terrestrial ones when they begin a marine plan, and to require the marine plan authority to have regard to the provisions of any related terrestrial plan. The overlap between the two systems will help here by providing an added incentive to create a seamless join between them. I know that that does not go as far as the noble Baroness wants in her definition of where the boundary should be, but I hope that she will appreciate that the Government are not being arbitrary here—although we must take a decision on where the boundary should be—and are conscious of her point about the necessity of co-operation when authorities, marine and terrestrial, both have an interest in crucial activities. The overlap is also important when it comes to development consents and licences. Coastal activities by their nature have both marine and terrestrial elements. The noble Lord, Lord Renton, in a different context, pointed that out. I will come to his point when I can think of a satisfactory answer in due course. He spoke about the concept of a national park, which raises real difficulties about the boundary. I am not sure that I will be totally adequate in my response to him, but I will do my best. It is important that all the impacts of coastal development are considered by the appropriate land and marine expertise. The overlap allows us to do that. We are conscious that the limits we have chosen will vary over time and are not regulated by lines on the map. That is a conscious choice. The noble Lord, Lord Taylor, is as aware as anyone else in the House that tides are a natural phenomenon. They do not necessarily recognise our human attempts to define and contain them. Consequently, boundaries change, not through the will of man but through the force of nature. Our choice of mean high water springs and the tidal limit in estuaries will ensure that we can plan for and regulate activities in the areas that regularly interact with and can have a substantial impact on the sea and the marine environment more generally. Defining the marine area by reference to directly human considerations, such as landing, crossing and navigation—the point raised by the noble Baroness when she moved her amendment—would not be appropriate when designing a regime to manage and protect what is in fact a dynamic natural environment. That is why we have drawn the boundary where we have. I appeal to her to recognise that that has been done with care, but that under the Bill the marine authority will have to have the closest relationship to terrestrial authorities—she mentioned local authorities—where issues concern them both. I am grateful to the noble Lord, Lord Taylor, because he identified why he could not agree with the noble Baroness's amendment. I hope that I can be helpful on the concerns that he voiced. The scope of the licensing and planning regimes in areas such as harbour bases and sea locks that contain seawater exchanged with the open sea is an issue. Having heard a series of constituency points two amendments ago about the location, I for a brief moment recollected days in the other place when any proposal for the location of government offices led to a free-for-all from Members rightly advocating why their town or city should be the place where they should be located. I noticed the echoes here today of that position. I am going to choose the example of Bristol, largely because I cannot see anyone who will attack me in detail on Bristol in the Chamber at present. Bristol fits all the categories: it is a very significant port and a seaport with a big estuary.