Natural Environment and Rural Communities Bill

Let me come directly to the points that I wished to make. The Bill has been improved in a number of ways. First, as the Minister said, it has had the benefit of pre-legislative scrutiny and the Government’s rural delivery strategy. The Bill went before the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Committee and the opportunity to tease out those issues in a pre-legislative Committee has proved extremely valuable. Interestingly, part 6—the rights of way legislation—was not subject to such scrutiny; perhaps there is a lesson to be learned there.