Marine and Coastal Access Bill [HL]

My Lords, this amendment returns us to an issue that we discussed in great detail in Committee: how the unsatisfactory position has arisen whereby the shellfish industry, in the Menai Strait in particular but now along the whole of our coastline, is effectively on hold and no new shellfish fishery will be begun because of the unacceptable uncertainty that now hangs over any new investment as the result of a legal challenge. I have retabled the amendment today because there have been some developments since we met in Committee and I want to give the Minister an opportunity to inform us of what they are and his department’s reaction to them. The most significant development has been that the House of Lords in its judicial capacity has rejected the petition that the Crown Estate took on this issue to overturn the appeal. The situation threatens one of our most important exporting industries; its shellfish are very sought-after and it supports many of our coastal rural communities, which, as the Minister will know, are some of those that are most in need of economic investment. For all those reasons, while the Crown Estate was within its duty to take its petition, now that that is out of the way, the situation needs to be resolved as speedily as possible. I hope that the Minister will outline the issues that were discussed by the Crown Estate, the shellfish industry and Defra at the meeting that they held. I understand that general agreement was reached on a way forward and that all three parties agreed that primary legislation was needed to amend the Crown Estate Act to relieve the Crown Estate of the power to make the orders for the shellfish fisheries, while reserving appropriate powers as a landowner. If indeed all three parties are in agreement, which I hope the Minister will be able to confirm, given how infrequently marine legislation comes along, it is imperative that the Government are able to table amendments in another place when the Bill goes there to resolve this situation, otherwise it may stay unresolved for years and the industry will suffer enormously. I hope that the Minister will confirm that amendments will be tabled to separate the statutory process from the exercise of landowner rights, a relatively simple thing for parliamentary draftsmen to draft. I beg to move.