Report (1st Day) (Continued)

Part of Marine and Coastal Access Bill [HL] – in the House of Lords at 9:30 pm on 5 May 2009.

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Photo of Lord Hunt of Kings Heath Lord Hunt of Kings Heath Minister of State (Sustainable Development, Climate Change Adaptation and Air Quality), Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, Minister of State (Sustainable Development, Climate Change Adaptation and Air Quality), Department for Energy and Climate Change, Minister of State (Department of Energy and Climate Change), Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs) (Sustainable Development, Climate Change Adaptation and Air Quality) (also in the Department for Energy and Climate Change), Deputy Leader of the House of Lords 9:30, 5 May 2009

My Lords, what I have said is that I can give the assurance that we will commit to ensuring that we draw up plans to cover the English inshore region. We can certainly commit to saying that, as the work goes forward, there will be a point where the whole of the English inshore region is covered. My concern goes wider than that. The implication, particularly of the amendment tabled by the noble Lord, Lord Taylor, is that if one goes across the whole area that can be covered by plans, perhaps some of the outer areas can be covered by a plan, because you do not have to do a lot of detailed work.

The point that I am making is that, none the less, you have to go through the process as set out in Schedule 6, which could involve you in a lot of work indeed. We would rather see how this goes and then make further judgments as to how far the plan should extend.