Clause 71
Marine and Coastal Access Bill [Lords]
12:15 pm
Richard Benyon (Shadow Minister, Environment, Food & Rural Affairs; Newbury, Conservative)
I beg to move amendment 10, in clause 71, page 48, line 30, at end insert—
‘(1A) This decision shall be made within 16 weeks of the application.’.
Assessments must be considered and a decision reached within three months. There is a requirement that onshore planning applications are considered within 16 weeks.
Subsection (1) outlines the conditions for granting licences. Our amendment requires that assessments must be considered and a decision reached within 16 weeks. As the Bill stands, there is no time limit on the consideration of marine licence applications. Without committing marine licensing authorities to a certain time scale—I am happy to say at this stage that I am relatively flexible on what that time scale should be—we are leaving the system open to massive backlogs and delays. Considering the potential lists of activities that will require a licence, it is important that we do not open up small businesses, in particular, to a potential loss of earnings through the lack of a licensing time scale.
The amendment also considers the renewable energy industry. Time is of the essence for marine developers. They may be funded by venture capital, and delays cost money. Unless we insist on some sort of defined time scale, it is conceivable that important developments that will play a great part in dealing with our renewable energy commitments will be affected.