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Marine and Coastal Access Bill [HL]

My Lords, we come finally to an amendment that we consider to be one of the most important for this part of the Bill. I alluded to it briefly when speaking to the amendment of the noble Baroness, Lady Hamwee, on highly protected sites, and it is why I was unwilling to support her on that point. We see the overall success of marine conservation zones as depending a great deal on the effective designation of an ecologically coherent network. There will of course be many areas where a stand-alone zone should be designated outside the network. However, the vast majority of zones will relate to protecting flora and fauna, which make-up an interrelated organic ecosystem where decisions on one part of the marine environment will have a great impact on the other. The Government understand that and have tried, as the Minister has just done, to reassure us about their intentions when designating zones under Clause 119. However, I remain concerned for a reason which we often raise in this House: no matter how good the current Minister’s intentions, there is no guarantee as to those of the next. Legislation should not be left full of loopholes for a future Government or Minister to exploit when the going gets tough. I therefore seek to tighten up the definition of what a network relates to. It must be possible for future designations to be justified on the grounds of merely involving more than one site, as is required by Clause 119(3)(c). The appropriate authority must be held to the duty of implementing a genuine scientifically based network and be seen to do so. My amendment does not seek to do anything that this Government claim they are not already doing. It would also, I hope, address the remaining concerns of conservation bodies that, after the economic interests have received recommendations, the network will be too small and weak to make the necessary impact. Therefore, I hope that the Minister will accept the amendment. I beg to move.