Marine and Coastal Access Bill [HL]

My Lords, I am grateful to both noble Lords—to the noble Earl, Lord Cathcart, who has expressed an important point in defending the wording of the Bill and who will not be too surprised that I share that view, and to the noble Baroness, who assayed a guess about what I might be likely to say, that the Bill provides this balance. That is exactly what I am going to say. I am involved in the exercise of reiteration. I accept entirely the noble Baroness’s point that the concept of fair balance must be at the heart of the legislation. We wanted that concept to be enshrined within the coastal access duty; it involves weighing up the different interests of landowners and the public and coming to a fair division in the light of what are obviously foreseeable competing interests. The Bill makes the requirement without the addition of this wording, which as the noble Earl said might be interpreted as loading the issue one way. The Bill strikes a proper balance—namely, that it is the duty of the Secretary of State and Natural England to strike a fair balance, which is absolutely integral to the coastal access duty. That is why I would contend that the Bill gives effect to precisely that objective and has it running as its crucial principle. That balance has to be struck as regards any particular piece of land; after all, the route has to go somewhere, and these decisions have to be taken in the light of particular pieces of land. The considerations that the Secretary of State and Natural England will have will be to balance all the options between differing landowner interests and those of the public. It is the intention that Natural England and the Secretary of State should do everything practicable to achieve a fair balance. The current wording of the Bill is a strong inducement for them to achieve that. We would hope and expect that the consensus at the heart of the duty will be achieved in most cases. The Bill expresses things as a proper balance in those terms. I am grateful for the noble Earl’s support. I hope that the noble Baroness will feel that, having explored this issue further, the Government are at one with her as regards the principle and intent. We believe that the Bill expresses that and hope that she will feel able to withdraw her amendment.