Clause 88 - Application of civil law to renewable energy installations etc.
Energy Bill [Lords]
3:30 pm
Mrs Anne McIntosh (Shadow Minister, Environment & Transport; Vale of York, Conservative)
I beg to move amendment No. 160, in
clause 88, page 67, line 43, at end add—
'(8) Enforcement of civil law on offshore renewable energy installations and in Renewable Energy Zones will be the responsibility of the Maritime and Coastguard Agency.'.
Clearly, one of the Bill's oversights—as picked up in the evidence taken and conclusions drawn by the Transport Committee in its report, ''Navigational Hazards and the Energy Bill''—is the failure of the Department of Trade and Industry to consult properly with the Department for Transport and the Maritime and Coastguard Agency. The amendment is a helpful suggestion to the Minister that there should be proper consultation at the earliest possible stage. It seems that the Maritime and Coastguard Agency is the correct body for these purposes.
Will the Minister tell the Committee what stage consultations with the Department for Transport and the Maritime and Coastguard Agency have reached? When were they consulted on the clause and other relevant parts of the Bill? The Transport Committee was critical, although one hesitates to use unparliamentary language and say ''damning''. Conclusion 4 of its report states that it is obvious that just as the Department for Transport and the Maritime and Coastguard Agency were not properly involved in the strategic environmental assessments, their advice was not heeded at the tender stage.
I urge the Minister to regard this little amendment sympathetically. Through which organisation does he propose to apply civil law if not through the Maritime and Coastguard Agency?