Clause 27 - Compensation for modification of licence on direction of Secretary of State
Water Bill [Lords]
4:30 pm
Mr Elliot Morley (Minister of State (Environment and Agri-Environment), Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs; Scunthorpe, Labour)
Currently, if a licence has not been used for seven years it can be revoked or varied and the holder is not entitled to compensation. Clause 27 reduces the period to four years. We have already had this argument. I explained that four years is a reasonable balance, given that the Environment Agency needs maximum flexibility in respect of its water management. There may indeed be very good reasons why some people want to hold stable licences—the provision of drinking water, for example—and I am sure that the agency will consider them carefully.
Amendment No. 228 deals with issues relating to farmers who are holding a licence but not abstracting because there is an irrigation ban to prevent an outbreak of plant diseases such as potato brown rot. I am assured that the Environment Agency would take such circumstances into consideration before formulating the process to seek revocation of the licence. We are not talking about a situation in which there is no flexibility and where people's circumstances cannot be considered. Of course, special circumstances such as the one that I mentioned will be taken into account.
I hope that what I have said reassures the hon. Lady that four years is an appropriate time. It fits in with what we have agreed in relation to the protected rights and is consistent with other approaches in terms of the time scale.