Clause 140
Marine and Coastal Access Bill [Lords]
9:15 am
David Jones (Shadow Minister, Wales; Clwyd West, Conservative)
I want to draw the Minister’s attention to the representations that I have received from the CCW—I am sure that the hon. Member for Carmarthen, West and South Pembrokeshire will be pleased to hear that he does not have the monopoly on correspondence with that body. The CCW is an adviser to the Welsh Assembly Government on the Bill and other matters. It takes the view that clause 142 should be expanded to include disturbance of an MCZ. Its point, which the hon. Member for St. Ives has also made, is that that would be more intellectually coherent, because it would create a degree of uniformity with offences relating to SSSIs. Since we are talking about conservation of sensitive sites—whether marine or land-based—it is appropriate to introduce intellectual coherence into the Bill. I am interested to hear what the Minister has to say about it.