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Marine and Coastal Access Bill [HL]

I am grateful again for the Minister’s care in responding to these amendments. In a sense we are back to the old argument that we do not have to have things in primary legislation because we have a Government and organisations such as Natural England which are full of nice people who do the right things and therefore it does not actually matter what is in the legislation. I have an old-fashioned view that it does matter because at some point the people running these things may not be quite as nice as they are now, or they may change their intentions. If we believe that something should happen, we should put it in legislation so that it has to happen. The Government think that they are going to be in power for ever. Then we have the other argument that it does not matter whether it says "must" or "may". We want it to say "may" but we are going to act as if it says "must". I have another old-fashioned view, which is that legislation should actually say what will happen and not something different. However, I am told that these things are old-fashioned. I accept that some of the lists that I have proposed may not be appropriate in primary legislation. We had this argument nine years ago on CROW, when we were promised that, although the lists were not appropriate in primary legislation, they would be put in secondary legislation. Therefore, I do not understand why the Government are resisting doing that in this case, as this is simply an extension of CROW. I ask the Government to think about what kind of secondary legislation, which is much easier to change when organisations change, they would consider under this Bill as well as under CROW. I was interested in what the Minister said about local authorities. I will follow his references to the 1949 legislation and check whether what he is saying is right. If it is right, that is fine as far as principal authorities are concerned, but I am sorry that he is resisting having something in the Bill about parish councils. Perhaps the 1949 Act should be amended to include parish councils. I think that what he quoted from the 1949 Act was about long-distance routes generally and not just about the coastal route, so the reference might not be appropriate in this Bill. I am not sure how we should deal with that. Parish councils have responsibilities in relation to rights of way, although I accept that the coastal route will not all be a right of way. Parish councils are, however, recreation and leisure authorities and often provide local amenities, so they will be able to make a real contribution to the new coastal route. For example, they may provide and run such local facilities as public lavatories and car parks. They also all have notice boards and might make a contribution in that way. If parish councils are brought in as what people nowadays call partners, they will have in many areas something important and significant to contribute at a local level. They ought to be consultees right from the start. However, I will think again about where we should refer to them. I hope that the Government will not resist this. I have got used to batting on behalf of parish councils on CLG legislation and I find that, whenever I do, I am knocking at an open door. I hope that the door might also be open as far as Defra is concerned. I beg leave to withdraw the amendment. Amendment A342 withdrawn.