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Marine and Coastal Access Bill [HL]

With one bound we are free to turn to page 6 of the Bill. Amendment 58 is a probing amendment to clarify what appears to be an unusual limitation in the amendment to the Wildlife and Countryside Act. Clause 40 identifies the ““UK marine area”” to be from the mean high water spring tide. However, new subsection (12)(a), to be inserted into Section 16 of the Wildlife and Countryside Act under Clause 10(2), limits the MMO’s remit in circumstances to only the mean low water mark. Will the Minister give us a clearer idea of when this restricted definition will be used and why it is not appropriate to keep the same high water boundary in all circumstances? I know very well the Holbeach Marsh coastline where the difference between high water and low water can be several miles. It is very hard to define. Boundaries can be quite important, particularly when dealing with an area of wildlife habitat importance such as the marshlands of the Wash and the north Norfolk coast. I hope that it will be possible to make sure that the Bill does not leave fuzzy edges to these boundaries. I am aware that mean high spring tide is not necessarily all the land that does not get covered by sea. In marshes, tussocks of high ground are covered by only the rarest high spring tides and not necessarily by a mean high spring tide. Can the Minister help me on how they would fit into the definition of what is sea and what is land?