Marine and Coastal Access Bill [HL]

I will be brief. This is an area in which I have a personal interest. Holbeach is a marine parish in the sense that Holbeach Marsh stretches right out into the Wash. The Wash is a site of special scientific interest and, indeed, a textbook example of where such a transition from an SSSI to a marine conservation zone might occur. However, I am not entirely sure that I share the anxieties of the noble Lord, Lord Greaves, about these matters. To me, once you get over the sea-bank, you are in a marine environment, not a land-based environment. There are no developments or people. There are plenty of seals, and there are birds in vast numbers. I share the noble Lord’s concern that we must ensure that the transition to a marine conservation zone means no dilution of protection, because the Wash is the largest estuarial system in the UK. It is also a special protection area and a Ramsar site, it is preserved under the EC wild birds directive, and it is part of Natura 2000’s special projects for grey seals, mudflats and sub-tidal sands. The whole of the Gibraltar Point National Nature Reserve is a particular point of interest. My contribution to this debate is to say that, as long as this process is well managed, these areas are best included in a marine conservation zone system that is capable of including the total marine environment within it. I do not share the concern of the noble Lord, Lord Greaves, about this issue.