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Marine and Coastal Access Bill [HL]

My Lords, I did not mean to suggest that it is not. However, in the unlikely event of an open-cast operation extracting coal from the surface of the seabed—who knows where technology may take us?—the operation would need a marine licence, and in the Scottish offshore zone, this would be for Scottish Ministers. I sympathise with what the noble Lord, Lord Wallace, is trying to do here. We do not think the Bill is the right vehicle for further legislative devolution, but I hope that what I said earlier about the power that Scottish Ministers have under the Bill to include a duty to further biodiversity in marine plans if they see fit will provide him with some reassurance that we can get to where he wishes to be.