Natural Environment and Rural Communities Bill

I shall resist the temptation offered by the noble Lord to get into climate change. Getting the duties of Natural England right in the Bill—and perhaps having a passing reference to the issues raised by the noble Lord—is critical. I shall give a couple of examples. In reply to some of the questions about tidal power, the last reason the noble Lord, Lord Sainsbury of Turville, gave for why we could not more seriously consider it was that it tends to have a sterilising effect on the seabed. That was raised as a negative issue. It is a negative issue, but it has to be balanced against all the options raised by the noble Lord, Lord Dixon-Smith. Secondly, at various times, English Nature and, I believe, the Environment Agency have objected to watermills in Devon and Somerset being brought back into use with turbines being sunk in rivers near them. Those agencies object for good reason because in the duties promoted when they were set up, this sort of issue was not at the top of the list, where it has now been put by climate change. The balance has changed. I am sure that in his reply the Minister will make some helpful remarks. I am grateful to the noble Lord, Lord Dixon-Smith, for raising this issue because time and again the primary duties of agencies are out of kilter with the urgency of the climate change issue.