Clause 119
Marine and Coastal Access Bill [Lords]
6:00 pm
Andrew George (St Ives, Liberal Democrat)
I seek the Minister’s reassurance on an issue here that is also relevant to clause 121. It comes back to a theme that I have mentioned before regarding consultation, particularly the requirement for consultation with coastal local authorities, which I do not think is emphasised sufficiently in the Bill, and the extent to which the encouraging words in the Bill can be made more robust or be tested.
Subsection (2) reads:
“The appropriate authority must publish notice of its proposal to make the order.”
I can see no reason why the Minister is not prepared to go further and state that it must publish notice and one of those locations where the notice must be published is within those coastal local authorities that are adjacent to the site designated in the order.
Subsection (3) reads:
“The notice under subsection (2) must... be published in such manner as the appropriate authority thinks is most likely to bring the proposal to the attention of any persons who are likely to be affected by the making of the order”.
How does one test the extent to which the appropriate authority has made sure that it has been brought to the attention of any persons? Are they fully aware of the kind of persons and organisations, be they bodies interested in industry, resource recovery, or marine science, such as a dolphin-watching group, that might be appropriate and which perhaps should have been consulted at that stage?
The same question arises on subsection (4), which states:
“The appropriate authority must consult any persons who the appropriate authority thinks are likely to be interested in, or affected by, the making of the order.”
How does one test the extent to which the appropriate authority has fulfilled its job? There is no mechanism here to ensure that it has. If someone who believes that they should have been consulted wishes to complain or appeal against the manner in which the authority has discharged its duty here, there is no mechanism for them to raise any objection.
I do not want to stray into a debate on clause 121, but the principle applies to its subsections too. I simply want to draw that to the Minister’s attention, rather than having a separate debate on that clause. Clause 121(2) states:
“The authority may, before making that decision, give to any person the opportunity of... appearing”—
and so on. There is no reassurance. There is no means of testing or appealing against this. There is no requirement on the authority to go through any robust method of ensuring that its consultation methods are sufficiently comprehensive and robust.