Natural Environment and Rural Communities Bill

Of course that will affect the cost. That is why I did not try to tell the noble Lord what the costs are; they will depend on which particular location is chosen. The location has not yet been chosen. The noble Lord asked why we did not simply merge the CRC with Natural England. That question is worthy of a response. We believe it would prevent us achieving the very conditions for establishing the CRC that are essential for its success. The rationale for having the body focus on economic and social rural disadvantage was set out in the 2004 rural strategy, which built on the rural advocate established by the 2000 White Paper and which the noble Lord, Lord Cameron, and the Countryside Agency successfully undertook. The rural strategy explained the need for a small refocused organisation to provide strong and impartial advice to government on economic and social issues affecting rural communities, but it needed to be divorced from any delivery functions—no one has really denied that that is important—that could distract it from impartially monitoring the delivery of services in rural areas and from being an advocate for rural people. Indeed, one of the roles of the CRC will be to monitor the delivery performance of Natural England itself. We believe that it can do that better as a separate and independent body.