Marine and Coastal Access Bill [ Lords]

Part of Bill Presented – in the House of Commons at 5:20 pm on 23 June 2009.

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Photo of Hilary Benn Hilary Benn The Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs 5:20, 23 June 2009

There is indeed. I have no doubt that that is an issue that we will also consider in Committee. In the end, the whole House has an interest in getting a pragmatic solution in this part of the Bill that takes account of everybody's interests but, at the same time, tries to ensure that more of our coastline can be enjoyed by all of us.

Part 10 and schedule 21 amend legislation in relation to Natural England and modify the regime governing harbours set out in the Harbours Act 1964. It also introduces navigational controls into the Energy Act 2008, in lieu of those currently contained in the Coast Protection Act 1949. Finally, Part 11 and schedule 22 cover procedural issues and definitions connected with earlier clauses.

As I have said, many Members want to speak, so I will to draw my remarks to a close. The Bill fulfils two manifesto commitments, but it is the determination of those who campaigned for it, the skill of those who drafted it and the views of those who have shaped it that have brought us to this historic point. We now have the wisdom, perhaps, to understand that nature's gifts are not inexhaustible. We need to balance the demands that we place on our seas and to do so in a way that allows us to generate energy, to simplify and streamline regulation, to improve marine and fisheries management, to protect the natural world and to provide us with greater access to it. It happens to have fallen to us—this generation—to act to protect our seas and the wonders that lie beneath them while we can. That is what this Bill does, and I commend it to the House.