Marine Nature Reserve (Hansard, 16 January 1986)

§ Baroness Nicol
My Lords, I beg leave to ask the Question standing in my name on the Order Paper.

§ Lord Skelmersdale
My Lords, the Nature Conservancy Council is making good progress. The Government hope to be able to reach a decision on the first statutory marine nature reserve in the summer.

§ Baroness Nicol
My Lords, I am grateful for that not unexpected reply. Will the noble Lord the Minister give us some idea of what the hold-up is at the moment? For nearly four years now we have been told that the decision on the first marine reserve was more or less imminent. Can the Minister spell out what is wrong? Is it in fact an argument over by-laws or is it something more fundamental than that?

§ Lord Skelmersdale
My Lords, there has certainly been an argument over by-laws but I do not think that this is the real reason. The real reason is suspicion generally among the various interests involved. The noble Baroness will remember that during the renotification process of SSSIs on land, which I am happy to say is still continuing and going on apace, there were also initial suspicions and these have taken a very long time to overcome. So it is hardly surprising that the marine suspicions, if I may call them that, have taken just as long, if not longer.

Lord Hunt
My Lords, does the noble Lord recall that during the Committee stage of the Wildlife and Countryside (Amendment) Bill on 12th June he said that he thought there was scope for speeding up the procedures leading to the designation of marine nature reserves? Does the noble Lord also recall that at that 1160 same Committee stage the noble Baroness, Lady White, said that so far as the island of Skomer was concerned, out of the 10 stages which had to be followed Stage 6 had been reached? That was seven months ago. Can the noble Lord say whether scope has been found for streamlining the procedures and how far the process has advanced as regards Skomer?

§ Lord Skelmersdale
My Lords, last May we said that we should have to reconsider the law if we had not achieved a reserve within 12 to 18 months. That point has not yet been reached. If it is reached then of course we shall do exactly that.

§ Lord Melchett
My Lords, can the noble Lord tell us whether any steps have been taken since the debates last year in your Lordships' House to speed up the procedures leading to the designation of the marine nature reserve? It has taken nearly four and a half years and we still do not have one. Are the Government doing anything to speed up the process so that it does not take another four and a half years before we have a second marine nature reserve?

§ Lord Skelmersdale
My Lords, one of the things that the Government have been very successful in doing is increasing the grant-in-aid to the Nature Conservancy Council—by 25 per cent. in 1984–85 and in the year starting this April by a further 40 per cent. So at the very least funding will not be an inhibitor.

§ Baroness Nicol
My Lords, I must press the Minister a little further. My understanding is that the suspicions of which he spoke have largely been laid to rest and that fishery interests have now come round to the idea of supporting the provisions in the 1981 legislation. In fact as I understand it what is holding the matter up is a quibble over a by-law between the DoE and the MAFF. Is the problem bureaucracy or can this matter be sorted out? It seems quite wrong that we are being held up because of such a small matter.

§ Lord Skelmersdale
My Lords, I should be very surprised if the model by-laws are not finalised next week.

§ Lord Melchett
My Lords, the additional grant-in-aid for the Nature Conservancy Council is very welcome; but is the noble Lord aware that this is likely simply to speed up the process of proposed marine nature reserves being identified by the Nature Conservancy Council? My question, which with respect I do not think the noble Lord answered, is whether the Government are doing anything to speed up the process which a proposed marine nature reserve has to undergo before it is designated.

§ Lord Skelmersdale
My Lords, inevitably the processes are something that evolve over time and it will obviously take very much longer to realise the first one identified by the Nature Conservancy Council as being of scientific interest. The process is such that second and third ones will take a very much shorter time.