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Marine and Coastal Access Bill [HL]

This has been an extremely helpful debate. It is pretty clear that the original proposals by the Government have not found favour with your Lordships, with the Constitution Select Committee or with the Joint Committee on Human Rights. I accept that. The original proposal in the Bill did not include a right of appeal. Instead, it provided for Natural England to consult affected landowners before preparing its coastal access report. In addition, under new Section 55C(2)(c), the landowner is to be given an opportunity to make representations about Natural England’s proposals. Clause 287 in the current Bill requires Natural England and the Secretary of State to aim to strike a fair balance between the interests of the public in having rights of access over land and the interests of any person with a relevant interest in land. There will be additional safeguards for those with an interest in land because certain types of land, such as buildings and their curtilage, gardens, will always be excepted from the right of access. In addition, landowners can apply to Natural England for access to land to be excluded or restricted if necessary for land management process. I have listened, obviously with a great deal of care, to what has been said tonight on the reports of the two Select Committees. We want to encourage consensus building so that the route and coastal margin best meet the aspirations of the public for improved access while respecting the interest of landowners and occupiers. I am clearly mindful of the report of the noble Lord, Lord Goodlad, from his Select Committee. Most recently, the Joint Committee on Human Rights has raised similar concerns. I noted in particular the comments of the noble Lord, Lord Goodlad, about JR procedures not being particularly accessible to many of the people who would be affected, but there will be some, as suggested by the noble Lord, Lord Pannick, who will pursue JR, and he points out the potential cost to Her Majesty’s Government in dealing with those matters. As a former Minister at the Ministry of Justice, I understand the costs of JR proceedings, since we seemed to be the victim of them on a number of occasions. The Government are clear that they need to respond to the needs expressed by noble Lords tonight. I have had a number of extremely helpful discussions on a possible review mechanism with noble Lords from all sides of the House. It is clear that some form of review mechanism would be beneficial in reaching the consensus I have mentioned. I have circulated a paper setting out a possible review mechanism which would enable the Secretary of State, where it appears to him that a person with a relevant interest is seeking a modification or making any objection to Natural England’s proposals, to forward them to an appointed person for review. We envisage that this would be an inspector from the Planning Inspectorate. We also need to look closely at how the views of all interested parties are considered. We are looking at this matter intensively over the next week or so. My officials are holding a meeting with stakeholders tomorrow to discuss this, but I am confident that we will be able to bring forward some detailed proposals on Report, which I very much hope will meet the concerns expressed by noble Lords. I understand the points noble Lords have made about wishing to have a procedure which is accessible, that does not cost a lot of money to any person who asks for a review to take place, that can be enacted quickly and that can avoid, perhaps, some of the bureaucratic processes of the appeal system. I take the point the noble Baroness, Lady Byford, makes about the judgment one has to make in relation to the CROW appeal process. We need to learn some of those lessons. I also agree with the noble Baroness, Lady Carnegy, and wearing my Defra hat it would be very hard not to agree with her, about the particular needs of agriculture and SMEs in having a system that they can use without the prospect of great expense. We will seek to meet all those points. However, we then come to the very interesting amendment put forward by the noble Lord, Lord Greaves. He did not put forward Amendment A350ZA, but he put forward Amendment A350AA. That really is about the status of representations. The noble Lord knows that we do not believe it would be helpful if just anyone were able to invoke a review mechanism, partly for the reasons just referred to about not wanting to have an excessively expensive and time-consuming process. We do believe, however, that landowners, lessees and occupiers of land have a particular interest in the land they own or occupy and this, we think, has been recognised by the most recent report of the Joint Committee on Human Rights. This speaks about providing a right of appeal to those affected by the designation of public rights of access over private land. That is the basic premise on which we are working in drawing up a suitable mechanism. Of course, however, I fully understand the point the noble Lord, Lord Greaves, is making about the need for everyone with an interest in coastal access to have an opportunity to put forward their views on proposals for access. For any mechanism we draw up, it is important to me that the proposals will not be seen and commented on by these groups. What I would envisage is this: if, for instance, as a result of the review mechanism, an objection made by a landholder, lessee or occupier is upheld, one outcome might well be that Natural England would be asked to draw up revised proposals on the piece of land in question. That would then be subject to consultation and representation in the same way as the original proposals. That is the kind of process we envisage; it would ensure the involvement of all interested parties, but after the review mechanism had taken its course. I hope noble Lords will feel that I have responded constructively to the very serious points raised. There have been useful discussions, and we shall continue with them. I very much hope that I can bring in an amendment on Report which, if it will not satisfy the noble Lord, Lord Greaves, on the specific point he is raising, will answer the generality of the points. At the end of the day, we want a consensus approach and we want landowners, lessees and tenants to have confidence. I believe that the kind of review mechanism we are proposing will enable that to happen.