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Marine and Coastal Access Bill [HL]

To some extent, we rehearsed this argument in our debate on the previous set of amendments. Indeed, my Amendments A350B and A351A to A351C relate to the efforts that the Secretary of State must make to notify relevant people about the final result of the report. To the extent that they do so, they probe how far the Government intend the consultations to go. As I suggested in our debate on the amendments dealing with consulting those with a relevant interest, merely putting up a notice in a local authority office and expecting people to know how to check it might not be sufficient. Similarly, I cannot imagine a circumstance in which it would not be appropriate for the Secretary of State to publish his determination in a way that brings it to people’s attention. Amendment A351D, like Amendment A352 in the name of the noble Lord, Lord Tyler, again suggests that relevant charities and organisations should be considered to have a relevant interest. In general, it seems sensible to take as many views from as many relevant people as possible. As we have said, charities and similar organisations could have valuable knowledge of problems that might arise. The number of amendments tabled that would add various bodies to the list in new Section 55E(2) shows the Committee’s concern that this list is not exclusionary. I hope the Minister will be able to confirm that representations will be read from anyone who might be interested. If a representation is clearly spurious or irrelevant, Natural England just needs to note that in its response.