Marine and Coastal Access Bill [HL]

This is an interesting question, on which I would like to allay the concerns of the noble Lord, Lord Taylor. I would also like to comment on the wording of his amendment. It would have the effect of limiting to the MMO the public body to which the Secretary of State, Welsh Ministers and the Department of the Environment in Northern Ireland could delegate their marine planning functions. It would be unusual to place a greater limit on the discretion of the Secretary of State, Welsh Ministers and the Department of the Environment in Northern Ireland to choose their delegate than is placed on Scottish Ministers. We certainly would start from the premise that each marine plan authority should have equal status, including in their ability to choose a suitable delegate to carry out their planning functions. Let me make it clear that we intend to delegate our planning functions in the English inshore and offshore regions to the MMO, but we disagree with the noble Lord, Lord Taylor, on the virtue of limiting ourselves to doing so under this Bill. He has anticipated the reasons why we will resist his amendment. The system is new. We are pretty convinced that we have got it right and that this is the best way to do it, but changes to the remit of the MMO might need to be made in the future, which might mean that it would no longer be the best body to carry out marine planning. In those circumstances, we do not want to be tied by statute to delegating marine planning functions only to that body. I know that the noble Lord, Lord Taylor, has said, ““Well, if that were the case, it would show that the whole system was not working, and the Government would have to come back to your Lordships’ House and the other place with new legislation””. However, marine legislation does not come along very often. We heard in the previous debate about legislation that was long anticipated but, alas, had not quite reached your Lordships’ House. There is a genuine concern that, if we were to specify the MMO as he wants to, the result could be very inflexible if there were changes to be made in the future in the light of experience.