Clause 75
Marine and Coastal Access Bill [Lords]
12:30 pm
Richard Benyon (Shadow Minister, Environment, Food & Rural Affairs; Newbury, Conservative)
Clause 75(2) lists the conditions under which a marine licence is not needed for dredging or spoil disposal:
“that the activity is undertaken by or on behalf of a harbour authority, and...that the activity is authorised by, and carried out in accordance with, any legislation falling within subsection (3).”
We wish to insert a new condition:
“that the activity is maintenance dredging.”
The amendment would ensure that low-risk maintenance dredging was exempted from the licensing system. The explanatory notes to the draft Marine Bill stated that low-risk dredging activities, such as maintenance dredging, would become exempt under the new Bill. However, there is no specific commitment to that in this Bill, as amended in the other place. The Government have committed to consult on exempting maintenance dredging beyond the context of activities carried out by, or on behalf of, harbour authorities, thus ignoring the vital maintenance dredging carried out by marina and port operators. Harbour authorities are not always best placed to carry out maintenance dredging and offering them a specific licensing exemption appears to give them an unfair advantage in a competitive market. For example, many harbour authorities have recreational moorings as a source of income. The harbour authority would be exempt from obtaining a maintenance dredging licence, but a marina in that harbour would be required to gain the appropriate licence, which would force it to raise mooring fees to cover the cost.
Exempting all forms of maintenance dredging would reduce costly bureaucracy at a local level and ensure a level playing field for coastal communities. Maintenance dredging does not involve the removal of river or sea beds, but the removal of accumulated sediment blocking navigation channels, and any environmental impact is therefore minimal. Amendment 12 would add a definition of maintenance dredging to the list of definitions in subsection (4)(a).