Clause 42
Commons Bill [Lords]
2:00 pm
David Drew (Stroud, Labour)
I shall be quicker on my feet in future. They used to say that when I played football.
Amendment No. 81 is intended to probe the Government by examining the powers to override existing schemes of management, which links directly with what I said about clause 41. I want to probe what the Government intend as the normal way of doing things. The amendment would ensure that the appropriate national authority cannot override an absolute prohibition of works contained in an existing scheme of management.
Schemes of management are important because they are the existing way in which things have been done and it would be wrong if the Bill superseded schemes that are already working well. Where they are not working well, I hope that Bill will give them a kick up the backside and make them improve.
It is somewhat sad that the clause appears to weaken the way in which existing schemes of management operate and I am looking for the Minister to assure me that that is not the intention. Where long-standing schemes—I could list them, but I shall not—are extant and deserve recognition, they do not need alteration. I hope that he will assure me that the Government’s intention is not to disrupt some of these schemes that go back a long way in history and work very successfully.