Planning Bill

moved Amendment No. 54: 54: Clause 15, page 8, line 39, leave out ““or (3)”” The noble Lord said: My Lords, in moving Amendment No. 54, I shall speak to the other amendments in this group in my name, which share a common and, dare I say, familiar theme. They reflect the long-anticipated marine Bill, which has already been published in draft form and was considered by a committee of both Houses. I and other nobles Lords have talked before of the daisy chain of Bills before us: the Climate Change Bill, the Energy Bill and this Planning Bill. As the Minister has said, they will—I suspect that all noble Lords will agree—shortly be joined by a fourth Bill, the marine Bill. The principal purpose of the marine Bill is to safeguard the marine environment and ecology. To that end, it will establish the marine management organisation. These amendments anticipate that event by placing the MMO centre stage in the marine environment. The Bill before us gives the Infrastructure Planning Commission the power to determine proposals in the marine environment, notably in Clause 15 offshore generating stations of more than 100 megawatts. My noble friend the Duke of Montrose referred to this when discussing his Amendment No. 52. The marine Bill will provide for a marine planning system under the MMO, so it cannot be right that the IPC overrides the MMO in the marine context. The purpose of Amendments Nos. 54 and 56 is to address this anomaly and to vest decision-making in the MMO rather than in the IPC. The wider powers of consultation on the pre-application procedure are the reason for Amendment No. 71 to Clause 42, while Amendments Nos. 84 and 85 deal with local impact reports in Clause 59. Amendment No. 102, which by coincidence addresses Clause 102, covers the decisions of the panel or the council. It includes a provision to consider the, "““mitigation of, and adaptation to, climate change””," as a priority element in any such decision. In all other cases, the sole purpose of these amendments is to put the MMO in the Bill as a party to the process. No development adjacent to or approximate to the coast can ignore its impact on the maritime and coastal environment. Who is to speak for this interest, if not the MMO? Which is the authority most capable of delivering an impact assessment of value? I hope that the Minister will recognise the consistency of my argument. Rightly, local authorities are represented in the processes. The Government’s wish to use the MMO in a key role is clear from the courteous and conscientious briefing and response to our Committee stage from the noble Baroness, Lady Andrews, but that response did not explain why the Government are not willing to accept these amendments, not least because there will be a period prior to the enactment of the marine Bill when there will be no MMO; the Government will need a consultee and will have to place on a temporary basis the Marine and Fisheries Agency in this role. However, that is by the by compared with the question of who will speak for the seas and the coasts. I hope that the Minister can assure the House that, by bringing the MMO into being, the marine Bill will be drafted to ensure that the MMO can properly represent at every level of the planning process the interests of our seas and coasts. I beg to move.