Clause 17 - General consideration of licence applications
Water Bill [Lords]
10:30 am
Mr Bill Wiggin (Leominster, Conservative)
I am extremely grateful to my hon. Friend for that intervention. As he pointed out, that is one for the Minister. I am not going to adjust the way that ''the Authority'' has been used in the amendments, obviously because it is too late, but also because if the Minister has a sensible reply to that point, I am sure that we will hear it shortly.
The Environment Agency has issued guidelines on the presumption of renewal for time-limited licences, but many of us remain convinced that a more robust code of practice should be developed to protect the access to water for those agricultural and horticultural businesses whose survival depends on that resource. In the event of an appeal to the Secretary of State by an applicant against a decision of the Environment Agency, it is important that the application and decision-making process are clearly understood and can be shown to have been properly completed. The present description of guidelines does not provide that assurance.
The intention of amendment No. 227 is to bring the code of practice into the list of activities laid down under section 38(3) of the Water Resources Act 1991, which must be considered by the authority when making a decision on the grant of a licence. Amendment No. 226 would extend the definition of ''reasonable requirements'' and specifically highlights the present and future plans of a business so that they are considered within the subsection. Crops requiring irrigation in both agriculture and horticultural industries are often those with a high production cost, which is generally rewarded with a high-value product. To retain the quality of production necessary for achieving that high standard, growers need to invest in technologically advanced irrigation equipment. It is essential for any grower to be able to justify such expenditure, and to obtain the best financing possible for his investments.
The time-limiting of abstraction licences to the—Environment Agency—proposed period of 12 years reduces the period over which a lender would be willing to extend credit for those projects. Although the agency has made it clear that it will be willing to consider longer licences in certain circumstances, it has said that that will not be a frequent occurrence; it will be in exceptional circumstances only. We now come to the presumption of renewal. I look forward to hearing what the Minister says.