Marine and Coastal Access Bill [HL]

I sincerely apologise to the Committee, particularly the noble Baroness, Lady Hooper, for missing the first minute or so of her speech. I was serving in another committee of the House which was meeting upstairs, and this Committee has moved rather faster this afternoon than I anticipated. I and my noble friends Lady Miller of Chilthorne Domer and Lord Greaves have an amendment in this group, which we are calling the ““heritage group””. However, I also support the other amendments. They may offer different courses but they are all aimed towards the same target. It is important that we discuss these issues in the round. I am grateful that I was in the Chamber to hear the noble Lord, Lord Judd—who I know spoke from the heart, because he has a long record of interests in these matters—and the noble Lord, Lord Howarth, who has taken such an active interest in these particular concerns. We have all seen the briefing from English Heritage. It contains a powerful argument for proper designation and co-ordinated management between the different agencies that may be involved in the natural and historic features around our coastline. I am particularly interested in the example of Lundy Island, where a nature reserve contains two historic wrecks designated under the Protection of Wrecks Act 1973. The possibility of confusion in a situation like that is great. It is also true around the Isles of Scilly, in which I also have a close interest, that if we are not careful and do not find ways of making the various organisations—be they less or more formal, quangos or, as they are more properly designated, NGOs—we will lose out substantially on important parts of our heritage. In that context, I pay particular tribute to the Campaign for the Protection of Rural England, which has also expressed anxiety about this. Amendment 106CA, in my name and the names of my noble friends, is an attempt to build in to the requirements of Clause 114 a specific reference to, "““features or defined areas of sea or tidal waters, including the coastline, of natural beauty or cultural significance or a combination of any of these reasons””." It therefore falls into the same category that other noble Lords have already referred to. The amendment attempts to define areas of sea and their contiguous coastline where land or tidal features need to be designated on grounds of natural beauty or cultural, archaeological or geological heritage. The Bill should contain a presumption in favour of designating areas of this sort, particularly when we already have long established, well recognised and well accepted designations made under the national park regime, for example, or as areas of outstanding natural beauty or as heritage coasts. It would be extraordinary if all that legislation, which is so well supported and so well bedded down in this country, was treated as less important than this new legislation. It would also be welcome if world heritage sites such as the Jurassic coasts of Dorset and Devon were included in the criteria for protection under the MCZs. The Government have expressed interest in enhancing protection for the WHS designation; here is a useful opportunity to do just that. Views over the sea from land are an integral part of the coastal landscape. Coastal waters and the coastline are indivisible in terms of the natural processes at work which create the coastal morphology and the visual integrity of land and sea when viewed from land. Coastline viewed from the sea is similarly indivisible from the marine setting. The CPRE is right to regard the absence of landscape and visual criteria from the designation criteria for MCZs as a serious omission. I hope that the Minister will find some way to remedy that in the Bill. The Government have already shown the importance they attach to the concept of landscape by ratifying the European landscape convention. English Heritage has conducted a historic characterisation of seascapes similar to its historic characterisation of landscapes. This analysis lends further weight to the case for including the protection and enhancement of coastal and sea landscapes in the Bill as it is intended to designate the protection of the marine environment. For many of our fellow citizens the clearest and most relevant manifestation of the marine environment is the view of it from the land or from the surface of the sea. The CPRE is right to believe that understanding the sea and its wildlife is largely achieved through cherishing that view of the sea and its coastline. Natural England has recognised the great importance of this experience in putting the enhancement of coastal access at the heart of this marine Bill. Therefore, it is logical that we should bring landscapes including the sea within the remit of the MCZs. That would complete this vital legislation, which otherwise will leave a major element of the marine environment unprotected. I believe that the Minister recognises the significance of this whole group of amendments and I hope he will be able to respond very positively.