Marine and Coastal Access Bill [HL]

My Lords, Amendment 118A contains an extremely useful provision. It states that, ""it is immaterial whether the person knew, or ought to have known, that the feature was a protected feature"." I look upon this as a no-escape clause. If someone pretends that they did not know about it, that is no excuse. It is a useful part of the amendment. We on the Liberal Democrat Benches have supported such provision. The word "reckless" is extremely important in this context, as a great deal of damage has been done. Indeed, there is now photographic evidence that many things have gone awry. We therefore very much support these amendments.