Marine and Coastal Access Bill [HL]

There can be clarity but still the problem to which the noble Baroness alluded, because the crunch is when an application is made. If there were parallel approaches rather than slightly different ones, the IPC would have to take a decision in accordance with, rather than having regard to, the marine policy statements, or the Marine Management Organisation would have to have regard to the national policy statements, which is a lesser test than taking decisions in accordance with them, "““unless relevant considerations indicate otherwise””." That was a phrase that we debated on the last occasion. If I understand this correctly, it is not necessarily the Marine Management Organisation that will be taking the decision. The noble Lord made much of the IPC—the Infrastructure Planning Commission, which was quite often referred to as the independent planning commission in the debates on the Planning Act. It is intended to be independent in its approach, though of course it will be dealing with policy statements which come from the Government of the day or which a Government have inherited from their predecessor. The noble Lord is quite right in that. But the public authority taking a decision under Clause 56 will not necessarily be of the same political hue as the Government whose policies the Infrastructure Planning Commission is applying. If the public authority can be the Scottish Government or the Welsh Assembly, we are not necessarily talking about political allies joined at the hip.