Clause 4 - Management schemes
Marine Wildlife Conservation Bill
11:30 am
Mr Simon Thomas (Ceredigion, Plaid Cymru)
I want to raise a point—for the attention of both the hon. Member for Uxbridge and the Minister—about amendment No. 7.
The hon. Member for Uxbridge has attempted to cast the exercise of the responsible bodies' functions wider than just the environment, as he put it, to take account of the proper exercise of their functions. The Countryside Council for Wales, acting under the National Assembly for Wales, must operate under the Assembly's overarching principle of a duty of sustainable development. Sustainable development, which brings together, as the hon. Gentleman will know, social, economic and environmental factors, is an all-encompassing policy already established at the CCW.
It would be useful if the Minister could examine the relevant aspect of the amendment, or of any amendment that he might table, and take into account the fact that in Wales at least, because the sustainable development framework is already established, the CCW is, de facto, already asked to behave in the way specified—although the amendment may still be applicable to England.