Marine and Coastal Access Bill [HL]

I thank the noble Lord, Lord Greenway, for tabling the amendment. We considered it in the Joint Committee, and I am grateful to my noble friend Lord Geddes. I have great sympathy for his amendment. The noble Lord, Lord Greaves, has quoted the Joint Committee, of which I was also a member. Clearly, we were not able to discuss the coastal access Bill as fully as we would have liked because we had only nine weeks rather than the 12 that one should. As the EFRA committee was also looking at it, our discussions were slightly curtailed. While he rightly says that some of us wanted the Government to reconsider the parks and gardens exception—he quoted "the majority" in the committee’s report—no vote was taken. I question whether, had there been a vote, it would have been the majority, but that is just a personal interpretation. However, we clearly need to address the issue. The noble Lord stropped at that, but the committee went on to say that, ""in any event we encourage the Government and Natural England to co-operate with owners and occupiers in voluntary agreements outwith the legislation"." That is not quite what he said. The EFRA committee had a chance to look at it in greater detail. In its record of our views on page 63 of its report, talking about parks and gardens, it says: ""We agree with the Government that parks and gardens should be excepted land under the coastal access proposals. Nevertheless, Natural England may attempt to negotiate voluntary access agreements with landowners of parks and gardens if this produces the most appropriate alignment"." I say that because other Members of the Committee should be aware that we had a controversial discussion. However, in our committee, we were so limited. Knowing that the EFRA committee was dealing particularly with this issue, I felt that I should share that with Members of the Committee.