Planning Bill

My Lords, this has been an extremely interesting debate. I am grateful to the noble Lord, Lord Taylor, and other noble Lords, who have tabled amendments and have spoken. I was very interested in the remarks of the noble Lord, Lord Greaves; noble Lords are keen to see the marine Bill before your Lordships' House. Because of the pre-legislative scrutiny, there has been considerable discussion and debate on what might be in a possible Bill that might be brought at a certain stage in the future. That is one of the problems of seeking to draft amendments to this Bill which refer to an organisation that at the moment has no statutory being whatever. None the less, I hope to reassure noble Lords in respect of a couple of the points that have been raised. However, I also understand that when we come to debate the marine Bill, a number of these questions will be debated again. Assuming that these are in its scope, I am sure that we will be able to ensure that noble Lords have undertaken effective scrutiny of the marine management organisation and how it relates to the national planning infrastructure. The Government have made the decision that while the marine management organisation, if established as we all hope it will be, will have expertise on the marine area and will advise the IPC on challenges and impacts specific to the marine environment, it is the IPC itself which will be best placed to consider the broader significance of national need alongside the impact to the marine environment. There is clearly a difference of view here, but I should make it clear that that is the Government’s firm view on the relationship. Within that, it is important that the views of the MMO are made known to the IPC and that the expertise that is available is clearly brought to the fore. As the noble Lord, Lord Taylor, suggested, the IPC could be established before the marine management organisation has come into being. If that were to be the case, the intent is that the IPC would draw on the expertise of the Marine and Fisheries Agency. I can assure the noble Lord that the MFA will be classed as a statutory consultee. My noble friend Lord Woolmer spoke about the existing expertise. He is very anxious to ensure that that expertise is not dissipated, which I well understand. Consents for offshore renewables are currently considered within two regimes—under Section 36 of the Electricity Act 1989 and under the Marine and Fisheries Agency, which provides consent under the Food and Environment Protection Act 1985. Although the two bodies have worked closely together to give a joined-up service to industry and stakeholders, an important benefit of this Bill and the future marine Bill will be to provide for a single point of application and consent. We are looking very carefully at transitional arrangements, including the need to avoid any loss of existing expertise. Broadly, we expect the MMO to get most of its expertise from the Marine and Fisheries Agency, and the IPC from my department—essentially, from staff who have been transferred to the DECC. That will not necessarily be through permanent transfer of staff; precise arrangements will need to be worked out. It needs to be borne in mind that the Department of Energy and Climate Change will have ongoing responsibilities after the IPC is established, such as the preparation and maintenance of national policy statements. My department will need to have expertise on the books as well as any potential transfer to the MMO. I reassure my noble friend that we very much recognise the expertise of those currently involved. The last thing that we would want is to dissipate or undermine that expertise in any way. My noble friend asked about an extension that might bring a project to over 100 megawatts. My advice is that the IPC would have to consider it at that point.