Marine and Coastal Access Bill [HL]

It is a very long time since I have entered into the discussions on this Bill in its extraordinarily long, drawn-out Committee stage. I do so now only because of past experience which I think is relevant. I shall speak later on coastal paths and explain my interest and experience there. I speak and intervene at this stage because I am a former director of Associated British Ports and am, in broad terms, sympathetic to the amendments proposed. I am a good deal more sympathetic to the amendment of my noble friend Lord Geddes, and I shall explain why. It is of course very important that properly designated port land and land set aside for port development is protected, but I recall, in the days before Associated British Ports took over from the old Ports Authority, that a very large area of the old Cardiff docks and most of the old Bute Docks, used for coal exports, was set aside by the authority as perhaps one day being necessary for port development. Some of us were pretty sceptical about that, because we thought it very unlikely that the huge area set aside would ever be used again for ports, even for such tasks as timber storage, and we were acutely worried that the designation of this land by the port as being useful for development would prevent important urban redevelopment. I recall when I became Secretary of State being particularly keen to ensure that no excess land was reserved by the ports which would prevent the urban regeneration which was one of my most important priorities as a Minister. If the land originally set aside by the Ports Authority in Cardiff had been blocked, we would not have been able to carry out the massive development of south Cardiff which has been such a hugely important event in recent decades and—dare I claim it?—a great success. Fortunately, Associated British Ports took a more sensible view and listened to our representations. My one anxiety, therefore, is that we do not reserve land that is not needed for ports. That is why I welcome particularly what my noble friend said. I from the start thought that his amendment, more carefully and more narrowly drafted, had great advantages, but I was struck particularly by the quotation that he produced about the process of consultation leading up to the development and approval of a master plan. That seems to provide the sort of protection that I am looking for. My simple point is to say, yes, we should protect port land, but can we have an assurance from the Government that the procedures that they will support will avoid the kind of false preservation of land that I have described?