Marine and Coastal Access Bill [HL]

My Lords, I am grateful for all those comments, not least because they have left me at least 13 minutes in which I can dwell on the virtues of everybody who has contributed to the Bill. Rest assured that I have no intention of taking such time, but I want to pay tribute to all those who have contributed so much. The noble Lord, Lord Greenway, started further back than any of us, with the pre-legislative committee. We were grateful for his wise guidance through the development of the Bill in this House. I emphasise that the Bill had 11 days in Committee and four on Report; it has not been a marginal contribution to the work of the House this year—very far from it. The Bill had quite the most intensive scrutiny. Therefore, I am very grateful for all the work of noble Lords, particularly the Front Benches and the indefatigable noble Lord, Lord Greaves. I have not the slightest doubt that he has had that epithet addressed to him on past occasions. He certainly always showed enormous commitment to the work involved in the proceedings on the Bill. I am grateful for his work and that of the other Members of the Liberal Front Bench. The noble Lord, Lord Taylor, not only committed himself to the most enormous work in the House but, as I indicated, in our deliberations over the summer took part in at least one crucial meeting which helped us with an important part of the Bill on the shellfish industry. That is typical of the constructive way in which he has approached this legislation. I greatly applaud his work for that. I am, of course, conscious of the fact that the Bill started here, and spent a great deal of time here, but it was considered very carefully in the other place. The Minister, my honourable friend Huw Irranca-Davies, played a considerable part in getting the Bill through the Commons. I, of course, also recognise the contribution made by Richard Benyon, the Member for Newbury. One last group that I want to thank is the Bill team, whose members carry the heat and burden of the day very intensively and not just through the long preparatory period. All noble Lords will recognise that, when the going gets tough, it is the Bill team that has to bear the weight of ministerial frustrations and anxieties. Frustrations and anxieties there have been aplenty. The calmness of my noble friend Lord Hunt saw us through most of them, but members of the Bill team also had to sustain themselves when his rather less calm successor—namely, myself—tried to cope with the intricacies of the Bill. I am grateful to them for the enormous contribution that they have made and I salute them on achieving two great objectives. The Bill contains two great components with which in future years we will be proud to be associated. There is no doubt at all that we have taken the most enormous step forward in marine conservation in protecting my favourite animal, the long-snouted seahorse; I look forward to that animal being protected in years to come. As the noble Lord, Lord Greaves, said, we have deliberated today without mentioning the part of the Bill that relates to the coastal path. I think that our fellow citizens will appreciate what we have done in that regard and that we shall get many plaudits for the work that we have done in producing the legislation that creates that benefit for our community. Motion agreed.