Marine and Coastal Access Bill [HL]

In moving Amendment 86B, I shall speak also to Amendments 86C, 86D and 86K. I hope that this is a much more straightforward matter than the previous one. These amendments concern the timetables for the adoption and publication of the marine policy statement and marine plans. The Bill provides for certain things to happen, "““as soon as reasonably practicable””," which is a phrase used in three places. My amendments propose long-stop periods. The terms ““reasonable”” or ““reasonably”” are subjective. They can depend on particular circumstances and, more important, can be too easily abused. My proposal may not give precisely the right periods, but it will give the Minister the opportunity to explain why, other than good will, long-stop periods are not spelt out in the Bill. Amendment 86D would provide for an authority to publish ““their””—not ““its””—reasons for not adopting the final text in the circumstances of the paragraph. Despite some of the exchanges that we have had today, I would hope that an authority would publish its reasons, or even ““their”” reasons, for not doing so. I beg to move.