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Marine and Coastal Access Bill [HL]

I wonder whether I could try again to clarify the provision that I was aiming for, which is not fundamentalist. The aim would be for sites to be designated on the basis of their conservation interest according to scientific evidence. That does not mean that there would be an absolute requirement for that conservation interest to be predominant in subsequent decisions. It would be open to people, through the normal processes of decision-making about development and socio-economic development and planning, to take the view that the economic proposition is more important than the nature conservation interest. My worry was that if socio-economic issues were taken into account at the time of designation, the poor Minister would be bombarded with every possible socio-economic argument and it would be difficult for him to see his way through to protecting what, by abstract criteria, would be the optimum range of protected sites. However, that does not mean that by simply designating on the basis of their nature conservation interest, you have to be stuck in a straitjacket of protecting that nature conservation interest irrespective of any other consideration. That is the case when a planning application on an SSSI goes ahead, as a result of a planning process conducted by the local authority, which ultimately goes to planning appeal for the Secretary of State to make a decision.