Marine and Coastal Access Bill [HL]

My Lords, I am grateful to the noble Baroness for her amendment. I hope that it will help to clarify these issues, which were the subject of fairly intensive debate in Committee. I reassure the noble Lord, Lord Taylor, that I was not excessively eager to get up to move the government amendments—to which I shall speak—because I regard them as less significant either than the amendment moved by the noble Baroness or Amendment 63, which is also part of the group, as our amendments are largely technical. Amendment 39, as the noble Baroness indicated, adds local authorities to the list of bodies that the Marine Management Organisation can enter into agreement with, to allow it to delegate functions to them. It is our intention to include in the list of eligible bodies in Clause 16 all local authorities that would have a legitimate expectation of carrying out functions on behalf of the MMO. We therefore included the sea fisheries committees—they may still exist when the MMO is established—and those local authorities which are also harbour authorities. There is no question that we recognise the significance of local authorities to those responsibilities, while Clause 16 also includes a power allowing the Secretary of State to add bodies to the list in the future, should that be deemed necessary. However, it is, surely, inappropriate to add all local authorities to the list of eligible bodies in Clause 16, because it is pretty obvious that not all local authorities would expect to be delegated functions by the Marine Management Organisation. After all, a fair number of our authorities have no coast at all, nor do any of their functions relate to the coastal or marine area. That is why Clause 16(3) states that the Secretary of State, ""may not exercise the power"," to add bodies to the list, ""unless satisfied that at least one of the purposes or functions of the body … to be added to the list is, or is related to or connected with, a marine function"." I would have thought that that was clear enough; we only want those local authorities involved which could conceivably have a marine function and, therefore, some relationship with the MMO. During the debate in Committee on Clause 20, the noble Baroness, Lady Miller, and the noble Earl, Lord Cathcart, were keen to enable to enable local authorities to work together jointly when carrying out functions delegated to them by the MMO. They supported the flexibility that this type of arrangement would offer the relevant local authorities. I emphasise that we want see that in the operation of Clause 20, but that clause refers specifically to local authorities that are harbour authorities. We have, of course, reflected on the matters that have been raised about joint working, but have decided that we do not wish to restrict local authorities which are also harbour authorities from working together on a particular function, if it is appropriate for them to do so. We have, therefore, tabled Amendments 42 to 46 to make that clear. They would alter Clause 20 to allow joint working by local authorities that are harbour authorities to take place. The amendments have been drafted to allow harbour authorities that are operating executive arrangements to work jointly, as well as those authorities that are not. As a result of changes to Clause 20, we have also tabled minor and technical amendments to Clause 19; Amendment 41 is needed to correct the reference to Clause 20 in Clause 19, and is therefore purely technical. I hope, then, that it will be appreciated that we took on board the arguments in Committee about joint working, and that these amendments help to make that clear. I turn to the much more substantive Amendment 63, which gives us a further opportunity to restate our intention that local authorities in coastal areas will be fully involved in the marine planning process. The amendment would make coastal local authorities statutory consultees in, ""the preparation of the consultation draft"," and when settling the final text. We have previously explained our reasons for not including any statutory consultees for the marine planning process, and the House will surely be relieved to hear that I do not intend to reiterate those arguments; however, I want to give a firm reassurance on the involvement of local authorities in that process. First, the statement of public participation will set out how, when and where local communities and stakeholders will be involved in the marine planning process. We intend that that process will be fully participatory, involving as fully as possible all who want to be involved. It is vital for the success of marine planning that local knowledge and expertise is used throughout, a point much emphasised in Committee. The need for compatibility with terrestrial plans—another point that was greatly emphasised—means that there can be absolutely no doubt; relevant local authorities must be consulted in the marine planning process, starting with the marine policy statement. In addition, paragraph 8 of Schedule 6 enables the marine plan authority to, ""seek advice or assistance from any body or person"" with ""particular expertise"." A local authority is clearly such a body and, in our guidance to the Marine Management Organisation, we will set out how we expect it to work closely with representatives from local authorities as part of a focused advisory group, as well as more generally. The group would assist the planning team throughout the process of creating the marine plan. In developing the marine planning proposals we have worked closely with the Local Government Association special interest group on coastal issues for nearly three years. To help us to understand how and through what mechanisms we can enable local authorities to be fully involved throughout the marine planning process and the issues around this, including the resource and capacity demands for their involvement, we recently ran a marine planning workshop in partnership with the Local Government Association special interest group. This event was well supported by 35 local authorities and we are considering what further work we may need to take forward. We are endeavouring to engage closely with all 135 local authorities around the coast, so we have also been working with the Coastal Chairs Group, government offices and the regional development agencies coastal network. I hope, therefore, that I have given evidence of the fact that far from the Government neglecting the interests and the rightful role of local authorities with a coastal interest, we have been engaged with them over a period of time in preparing this Bill. They know that we intend to include them in that part of the planning process, but we do not think that it is sensible to put the totality of local authorities in the Bill. Therefore, I hope the noble Baroness will think that we have responded to her amendments and the debate in Committee with thoroughness, and that she will feel able to withdraw her amendment.