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Marine and Coastal Access Bill [HL]

The noble Lord is right that on the map they look like two separate pieces of water, given that one is in north Devon and one is in south Devon. I fully accept the point. I should have said to him, when he asked me whether we would consider an intermediate option, that this is an open consultation and, if we receive comments that suggest that neither of the options we propose is acceptable, we will consider such an opinion. Equally, while I accept that where a county has two different coastlines there will be issues that will have to be dealt with, one could argue that there are advantages in one county area being taken as a whole and dealt with consistently. I will ensure that the noble Lord’s comments are considered. If other ideas are put forward as part of the consultation, they will need to be considered very carefully.