Schedule 1
Marine and Coastal Access Bill [Lords]
2:00 pm
Andrew George (St Ives, Liberal Democrat)
I am grateful to the Minister for his response. To reflect on what the hon. Member for Plymouth, Sutton said, perhaps I would have been more sanguine if the MMO had been based in Cornwall where, obviously, its officials would have had the benefit of the Cornish air and the Cornish community to guide them in their decision making. I would feel much more relaxed about the possibility of the organisation becoming remote and high-handed if it were operating in that more convivial environment. Those concerns would clearly be dissipated if the organisation were based in Cornwall. Sadly, that was not ultimately the Minister’s choice, but he might have time to reconsider it, perhaps even during our consideration of the Bill.
The Minister said that the written strategy should encourage me, and I shall look at it again. He also referred to the processes involved in marine planning and claimed that they were transparent and that there was local ownership. In reality, the Bill does not bring about a satisfactory level of local ownership. There is a requirement to consult in certain circumstances, but the MMO will be in no way as accountable as national parks, which are at least semi-accountable, as my hon. Friend the Member for Brecon and Radnorshire said. That accountability does not apply in this case, but one might argue that it applies to IFCAs working within the six-mile zone.