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Marine and Coastal Access Bill [HL]

I speak with some trepidation, not having spoken about this Bill before. However, I was for 10 years chairman of, first, the South Downs Conservation Board and then of the committee that also embraced east Hampshire. One of our real beauties is the iconic coastal land and seascape of the Seven Sisters and Beachy Head. Those of us living close by and those now on the South Downs joint committee have been considerably worried by there being no allowance in the Bill for seascapes, which is where beautiful land—in our case, it is probably about to become a national park—also embraces a fantastic view of the sea. That may be a serious omission. We discussed this beforehand with the inspector, who wanted views on it. He expressed a view that consideration should be given to statutory provisions that would allow marine areas beyond the mean low water mark to be part of a national park. That is a big question. However, if I read the Bill right, there is at present no thought given to what will happen to seascapes, particularly where a national park, of special conservation, looks down from right above the sea. We feel that the two could be embraced together, with law and planning to combine both. This would be a strong step forward, which I hope can be considered in the context of this Bill.