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Broads Authority Bill (By Order)

I am grateful to the hon. Gentleman for reinforcing that point and I would like to congratulate him, along with the hon. Member for South Norfolk (Mr. Bacon), on securing this debate. They were determined enough to have the matter debated in the House and it is right that we have had the opportunity to do so. Before I lose the thread about the inherent conflict between the competing duties, I want to make a further point. One of my constituents argued that there should be a way of resolving those conflicts—and, ideally, that it should be built into the Bill. He made it clear that, because of the absolute importance of navigation to the future of the broads, he was not arguing for the Sandford principle. He nevertheless made a compelling argument that when there are three competing duties and potential for tension between those competing interests, there should be some mechanism for resolving the conflicts between those duties. I would be pleased to hear the hon. Member for Norwich, North respond to that point. On safety, as I have already said, I strongly support the case for the introduction of powers to enhance safety on the broads. The tragic accident that we witnessed some years ago demonstrates the case for that. I have been asked—again, I would be grateful if the hon. Member for Norwich, North responded to this point—whether it would not be possible to achieve the same thing through byelaws, which have democratic legitimacy through elected councils. I am afraid that I was not convinced—I do not think that the hon. Member for Mid-Norfolk was either—by the efforts made by the hon. Member for Norwich, North to respond to my questions about the status of the legal agreement. What we have is a Bill that, on the face of it, introduces draconian powers—there is no doubt about that—in terms of access to land, directing the master of a boat and so forth. Those powers are ameliorated and controlled by way of the legal agreement that stands alongside them. Many people who have concerns about the extent of the powers that the Bill introduces say to me, ““If the Broads Authority is content to have controls and restrictions set out in a legal agreement adjacent to the Bill, why can’t those things be enshrined in the Bill itself to give satisfaction and reassurance to people??