Marine and Coastal Access Bill [HL]

My Lords, I am grateful to the noble Lord, Lord Greaves, and the noble Baroness, Lady Miller, for allowing us to debate what might be described as coastal communities. I recall the debate in Committee and the intervention of the noble Lord, Lord Tyler. When we were in Committee, we had a clash with the Local Democracy, Economic Development and Construction Bill and we now have a clash with the Political Parties and Elections Bill. At one time I thought I might, as a Ministry of Justice Minister, be taking it through, but we have moved on to higher things with the marine Bill. Rather like the noble Lord, Lord Taylor, I have no argument with noble Lords in their emphasis on the importance of coastal communities. I agreed with the noble Lord, Lord Greaves, when he talked about the need for harmony but, if you cannot have harmony, at least have a full and frank debate. I agree with his point about the interface between the people living along the coast, the sea itself and the interests of people living in coastal areas. My concern is the implications of putting this in the Bill. It is the "list" argument: if you put something in legislation, you are in danger of excluding other interests. The amendment would amend the critically important Clause 2. The government amendments that we have agreed with the support of the House are, in a sense, the high-level duties and objectives. It would not be appropriate to add "endeavour to work closely with coastal communities". It is, however, relevant to ask me how the MMO intends to work with the communities that noble Lords have spoken so eloquently about. Noble Lords will be aware of the vision for coastal management that my department has published recently entitled A Strategy for Promoting an Integrated Approach to the Management of Coastal Areas in England. The strategy makes it clear that we place a great deal of emphasis on the need to empower coastal communities. We want them to have a sense of ownership and stewardship within marine and coastal areas, and we think that that will greatly assist the MMO in the delivery of its functions and the overall objective of making a contribution to sustainable development. We think that marine planning will offer new opportunities for coastal regulators and communities to have a say in the way the marine environment is managed in the same way that they input now into land planning on the coast. Further, the statement of public participation issued by the MMO at the outset of development of each marine plan, which we might debate again, sets out how it intends to involve stakeholders and local communities at each stage. That will ensure that those with an interest will be clear about the process, decide what involvement they want to have and be able to become appropriately involved. I have no disagreement with noble Lords in their desire to ensure that coastal communities have a major input into the deliberations of the MMO and the way it works, but we have great reservations about singling out coastal communities and putting them into the Bill in Clause 2 in the way that the noble Lord has suggested.