---

Marine and Coastal Access Bill [HL]

I do not wish to prolong this much further, but when the Government are considering this issue and discussing it with people, it is important to remember that IFCAs have to reconcile the interests and enthusiasms of local people with what the Government have recognised as very important—conserving and repairing the environment. Although I appreciate what the noble Baroness, Lady Young, is saying about the need to put the environment first on this list, if one wants to persuade local people and help councillors to come to terms with what their constituents and the experts are saying, it might be better to put the whole thing in terms of balance. That is what the Government are doing in the Bill and what my noble friend in Amendment A232ZA is attempting to do. What is actually going to happen at meetings of these bodies? One shudders to think how it will work if every councillor turns up and some 30 people discuss these matters. If that is the case and they have to come to a decision, it is probably easier to word the clause in a way that people more readily understand that they are reconciling what the majority interest will probably be, as the noble Baroness, Lady Young, said, and the aspirations of the Bill.