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Marine and Coastal Access Bill [HL]

I received notification that the noble Lord, Lord Greaves, wished Clause 294 to stand part. Therefore, I shall continue. My amendments in this group probe the implementation and maintenance of the coastal route. There are a great number of small amendments here. Therefore, I shall try to speak to the larger issues on which I hope to receive further clarification. First, I wish to address the question of the work done to establish the route. Schedule 19 raises the possibility of some serious works being necessary. Paragraph 2(3) speaks of clearance and the removal of obstructions such as walls. When I first read through the schedule, I was pleased to note in Paragraph 2 that this will all be done with the agreement of the owner or occupier, and that Natural England or the access authority will bear the costs except where the owner agrees to undertake the works himself. Unfortunately, I then turned the page and realised that that is not the case under Paragraph 3. Here Natural England or the relevant access authority is able to come on to private land and start chopping down trees, filling in ditches and digging up walls in order to smooth the way for the coastal route. I hope that the Minister will assure us that sub-paragraph (3) is to be used only in the most extreme cases where Natural England has done everything it can to gain the proper permission for the works, and that in that case the owner or occupier would not be expected to fund any proportion of them. I should also like clarification on why yet another definition of who has a relevant interest in the affected land, beyond those that we have already discussed, is being used. I should also like to hear more about how much disruption to the landscape the Minister thinks is appropriate for the creation of the route. It cannot be in anyone’s interest to destroy natural wildlife habitats. This links to earlier discussions about whether the route is to be four metres wide where possible. Obviously, considerably more chopping down, filling in and digging up will be necessary if four metres is to be the standard. I hope that Natural England would rather reduce the width of the route than undertake significant works. I should also like confirmation that none of these works may be undertaken for the purpose of extending the coastal margin. Secondly, I turn to notices and signs. My amendments probe where it might be necessary to change the signage on someone’s land without consulting them, and when Natural England might not bear the full cost of such signage. They also express the hope that an indication of the extent of the coastal margin will be included on the signs, and that Natural England must reasonably respond to complaints by relevant people that signage is inadequate—perhaps where the public frequently wander off the route onto land where there is no access. I beg to move.