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Marine and Coastal Access Bill [HL]

I rise to support Amendments 91 and 92, to which I have put my name. The noble Baroness, Lady Hamwee, said it all: this is the perennial argument that we had in debating the Planning Bill, and will have here, about the relationship between national infrastructure decisions and the marine policy statement and marine plans, and how much influence the marine policy statement and marine plans should have on IPC decisions. My view is that where a marine policy statement exists, all marine projects should be made in accordance with it—otherwise what is the point of having it?—and in accordance with the associated marine plans. The clauses that exempt decisions on nationally significant infrastructure projects at sea were late entries into the field and are a detrimental step, because the IPC is required only to have regard to the marine policy statement and marine plans, rather than take decisions in line with them. Now that we have a Marine and Coastal Access Bill, marine projects should be considered within the framework that the marine planning process provides.