Clause 119
Marine and Coastal Access Bill [Lords]
12:00 pm
Huw Irranca-Davies (Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Marine and Natural Environment), Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs; Ogmore, Labour)
The ultimate default position, if these duties have not been complied with, is under subsection (10) which says:
“If the appropriate authority fails to make the order before the end of the period...anything done by the appropriate authority for the purposes of complying with subsections (2) to (9)...is to be treated as not having been done.”
If the appropriate authority fails to engage properly with all the relevant persons who could be affected, subsection (10) says it has not complied with its duty and that proposal does not stand. There is also the option of judicial review. So there are safeguards. The essence of these MCZs, as we described earlier, is based on early engagement, the science being put in front of people, and a wide variety of proper stakeholders. If there is no proper publication, distribution and consultation, there are failsafes within the clause to say that the process falls.