Natural Environment and Rural Communities Bill

Let me continue the love-in. The second way in which the Bill has been improved is by the Minister and his team of officials. There were good debates in Committee that ranged across the parties and there has been a lot of consensus. As my hon. Friend the Member for Bassetlaw (John Mann) said, it is a strong Minister who can make changes. I have been impressed with the willingness of the Minister to put his stamp on the Bill, to take further advice, to have discussions with officials and to bring forward new proposals. I am grateful to him for doing that and for meeting a range of outside organisations who clearly have seen the importance of the Bill and wanted to contribute to it. We ought to thank them for their contribution. I also want to thank another group of people who have not been mentioned. The Bill changes the way in which the Government work in rural areas. I have a great deal of admiration for the staff at English Heritage, the Countryside Agency and the Rural Development Service who have faced major changes and difficulties and have had to keep working while the organisations have been moving around them. We need to thank them. Natural England has a new base in Sheffield and I understand that interviews have taken place for its chairman. I do not think that an announcement has been made, but one is anticipated fairly soon. Although there are reservations about the new bodies, I am sure that we would all wish them well. What we all want across the House is to see a way of government working with rural communities that looks after and enhances the environment, creates economic development and brings about beneficial social change. Those are hard tasks to meet, but I believe that the Bill’s infrastructure provides us with the opportunity to do just that.