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Commons Bill [HL]

In extolling the virtues of Clause 9, it also escaped my mind to raise the ability of English Nature or CCW to invest—if I can use that word—in those severed rights. Could the Minister explain what would happen if such rights became available and the owner and Natural England wished to buy them? Would they be competing in the market place for the same rights or would Natural England come to the owner and find out whether he was interested in buying them first and what his intentions were? If the owner’s intentions were the same as English Nature or Natural England, it seems rather a waste of public funds.