My Lords, the Bill has been drawn up with the objectives and the future of the spaceflight industry in mind. There is obviously nothing wrong with that, but other interests and considerations also need to be safeguarded and addressed. The calls at Second Reading for light regulation and what is described as no unnecessary bureaucracy or red tape make one a little wary. Light regulation is what we apparently had for the financial services sector a decade ago, and we all know what some involved there got up to, which cost the country dear. One person’s light regulation and so-called red tape can be a weakening of another person’s protections and safeguards.
One of the areas on which we need to be satisfied that the Bill either provides or does not remove appropriate safeguards and protections is over the impact that spaceflight development as envisaged in the Bill could have on the environment and local communities. There appears—subject to what the Minister may say in response—to be surprisingly little in the Bill that addresses potential concerns in these two important areas.
The duties and powers of the regulator, as set out in the Bill, are geared to the promotion of spaceflight. Indeed, at Second Reading there were calls for a more specific statutory government duty to achieve this objective. Clause 2(2) states:
“The regulator must exercise the regulator’s functions under this Act in the way that the regulator thinks best calculated to take into account”,
with the first two matters listed being,
“(a) the interests of persons carried by spacecraft or carrier aircraft”,
and,
“(b) the requirements of persons carrying out spaceflight activities”.
There is no specific reference to local communities in the other matters listed under Clause 2(2), and the reference to the environment appears to be,
“environmental objectives set by the Secretary of State”.
Those could prove to be wide-ranging but, equally, they could prove to be non-existent or even negative, depending on the outlook of whoever is the Secretary of State at the relevant time.
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As the Secretary of State could, as I understand it, also be the regulator under the Bill, does that mean that in his or her capacity as regulator he or she would be required to take into account “environmental objectives” which he or she had set as Secretary of State and which presumably they could change as and when they wished?
The need to strengthen the considerations that the regulator must take into account in exercising the regulator’s functions is increased by the statement, in Clause 2(3), that,
“If in a particular case there is a conflict in the application of the provisions of subsection (2), in relation to that case the regulator must apply them in whatever way the regulator thinks reasonable having regard to the provisions as a whole”.
Thus, the Bill would appear to indicate that conflicts in the application of the terms of Clause 2(2) are likely. If there is no proper reference in that subsection to the impact on the environment and on local communities of space activities having to be taken
into account by the regulator, they are surely much less likely to be taken fully into consideration if they conflict with the interests of persons carried by spacecraft or carrier aircraft, or the requirements of persons carrying out spaceflight activities, which are the first two considerations for the regulator under Clause 2(2).
My amendments in this group seek to address that situation and would require the regulator to take into account the effect on the environment and on local communities of activities connected with the operation of spaceflight activities or the operation of a spaceport as licensed under this legislation, in addition to the other considerations already set out in Clause 2(2). The amendments also provide, under Clause 12(6), for the regulator to consult the Environment Agency or similar bodies in Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales, as well as any relevant local planning authority, before deciding what conditions to include in a licence under this legislation.
We need to know from the Government, on the record, exactly how this operator licensing regime and the powers of the regulator will work in relation to the existing planning process and planning laws. Will a person with an operator licence or with exemption from an operator licence, or the regulator, including if the regulator is the Secretary of State, be able to overrule or avoid any of the existing planning processes, planning laws or regulations, or environmental regulations, processes or laws, in respect of spaceflight activities in the United Kingdom or the operation of a spaceport either under the terms of the Bill or in subsequent regulations, including under the Henry VIII powers in Clause 66?
I hope that when the Minister responds, he will be able to address all the concerns and points that I have raised. I beg to move.