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Broads Authority Bill

My Lords, I apologise to the House for not putting down my name for the debate—I shall speak briefly in the gap—but I thought that I might be involved in Committee, which is why I did not. I support the Bill. Like others, I have interests to declare. First, like the noble Lord, Lord Walpole, I was involved in the early discussions that took the Broads through to something of a national park with the uniquely water-based arrangement that exists. Secondly, I have been a boat owner on the Broads for 25 years and am well aware of the dangers of the wash to the reed beds. I therefore think that I know the area as well as many. As other noble Lords have rightly said, the Broads are an arena where conflicting interests converge and contest for space. They include boat owners, but also sailing versus motor, which is one of the reasons for the issues arising over Breydon Water, as I am sure the noble Lord, Lord Glenarthur, will appreciate. There is a problem of the holiday trade; there is a problem of fishermen, which has not been mentioned and which can lead to issues for both them and boat users; there is the problem of birdwatchers; there is the problem of farmers; there is the problem of the concerns of environmentalists. I remember being shocked as a fairly new Norwich city councillor when I was told by a farmer in the area that the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food was offering grants to drain the Broads and that, simultaneously, the Department of the Environment was offering grants to farmers not to take up the grants from the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food. That suggested that joined-up government was long overdue. The Broads are fragile. They are, as the noble Lord, Lord Walpole, said, occasionally dangerous. They need strengthened management to take us through into the next couple of decades. Like the noble Baroness, Lady Shephard—I agree also to some extent with the noble Lord, Lord Glenarthur—I am uneasy about the democratic deficit. I hope that as we move, I trust, to an agreed reform of local government, we will eventually have the head space to make good that democratic deficit to ensure that appropriate weight is given to the views and positions of all the players and interests involved. Given that one reservation, I very much support the Bill.