Marine and Coastal Access Bill [HL]

With this group of amendments we are moving into Part 3, Marine Planning. All the following groups of amendments, including this one, are necessary because, as the Bill stands, there is a huge lack of clarity. We broadly support the probing nature of the amendments put by the noble Lord, Lord Tyler, but, in particular, the requirement for a strategic environment assessment, SEA, that should be conducted for the MPS. Apparently, there has been legal advice supporting the view that the SEA directive does and should apply to the MPS. However, to date, the Government have stated that they, "““would not be required to carry out a strategic environmental assessment of the MPS under the terms of the Directive concerning SEA””." That was the Government’s response to the Joint Committee’s report on the draft Marine Bill. In addition, I understand that concerns have been expressed regarding the practicalities of carrying out an SEA to such a high-level or overarching document as an MPS. The principle of whether a SEA should be carried out goes back to the same argument posed by my noble friend Lord Kingsland when moving Amendment 12. He argued that until the MMO has established the best scientific evidence, it cannot make an assessment about the damage or otherwise that particular human activities would do. In the same vein, a marine policy statement would be incomplete without first having done an environmental assessment. It is said that the SEAs of high-level plans or programmes, such as the proposed marine policy statement, pose particular practical challenges to undertake. Such plans or programmes often lack detail, thus making them difficult to assess. To our knowledge there have been few high-level SEAs in England, Wales or Northern Ireland. However, I understand that Scotland has had success and experience of SEAs at a high level. The Environmental Assessment (Scotland) Act 2005 covers strategies as well as plans and programmes. I do not believe that England, Wales or Northern Ireland have this experience. I further understand that Scotland has a number of high-level strategy plans which have undergone or are undergoing SEA. Therefore, it would be perfectly possible to conduct a SEA for the MPS. I hope that the Minister will look at this issue, especially after the assurances that he gave the Committee when responding to Amendment 73 in the name of the noble Lord, Lord Greenway.