Clause 126
Marine and Coastal Access Bill [Lords]
6:30 pm
Nick Ainger (Carmarthen West and South Pembrokeshire, Labour)
This is another issue that has been brought to my attention by the Countryside Council for Wales, which is concerned that public authorities could grant consent for an activity that could damage an MCZ. It suggests that the same principles and rules that apply to land-based planning decisions should apply to marine planning decisions. In other words, if a public authority were minded to grant a consent that could directly affect and damage an MCZ, it should have to inform either the UK Minister or a Welsh Assembly Minister, as it would when dealing with a departure from an existing structure plan or whatever in land-based planning.
Secondly, the CCW suggests that there should be a power for the Government or the Welsh Assembly Government to call in such applications. I would be grateful for the Minister’s comments on those ideas. They have merit, because at the end of the day, we rightly restrict the powers of local planning authorities or national parks that are minded to grant a consent that is in breach of their policies on the ground that it is in the wider public interest. We should apply the same restrictions to any public authority that is minded to grant or permit an activity or development that could damage an MCZ. I would be grateful for the Minister’s comments on that proposal.