Marine and Coastal Access Bill [HL]

My Lords, Amendments 114C to 114F address a significant burden that the Bill as drafted places on public authorities. Clause 121 places a duty on public authorities to inform the statutory conservation bodies when they think that the exercise of their functions might significantly hinder the achievement of conservation objectives for a marine conservation zone. It is clearly right that a public authority should assess the likely impact of its functions on marine conservation zones, and if it thinks that exercising those functions might have an adverse effect it should seek the advice of the relevant statutory conservation body. Such advice would help it to fulfil its duty best to further, or least hinder, the achievement of a marine conservation zone’s conservation objectives. On further consideration, however, we have concluded that the duty as drafted applies not only to the general exercise of functions, which is our intention, but to each occasion on which a public authority carries out functions in its own right, even for routine and well understood activities, such as Trinity House laying buoys for the safety of navigation or a harbour authority dredging a channel that has been silted up by a storm. It is disproportionate and impractical to require public authorities to inform the statutory conservation body every time they wish to carry out a core function for which Parliament may have given powers or imposed duties in legislation. We do not wish the Bill to have that effect, and the Government’s amendments address this problem accordingly. Amendment 114D contains substantive provisions to the effect that if statutory conservation bodies issue standing advice or guidance to public authorities, those authorities are not required to inform the statutory conservation bodies each time an activity is carried out, provided that the activity is within the scope of the standing advice or guidance. If, for example, the statutory conservation body had issued guidance on the precautions that need to be taken to avoid damage to marine conservation zones when navigational buoys are being laid, an authority such as Trinity House would not need to seek advice each time it laid a buoy. Where there is no relevant standing advice, the amendment establishes a time limit of 28 days for the statutory conservation bodies to give any advice necessary, after which public authorities may decide whether to go ahead as planned. This is to give the statutory conservation body a reasonable period during which to provide advice—this is comparable with Clause 122—and to avoid the authority being unnecessarily prevented from carrying out its duty by delays in the statutory conservation body issuing advice. The amendment also makes provision for the 28-day rule to be disapplied when the public authority considers its work to be urgent. For example, a navigational buoy might come adrift from its moorings and need replacing. The amendment would allow authorities to carry out their essential duties at short notice, if required. Those are the substantial parts of the amendments. Amendments 114C, 114E and 114F are consequential drafting amendments. Amendment 114C clarifies wording that would become unclear as a result of our amendment. Amendments 114E and 114F merely rearrange definitions as a consequence of the new drafting. Accordingly, I hope noble Lords will support the amendments and I beg to move.