Member

As well as clarifying the strength and ambition of the overall improvement test, the amendments the Government have tabled in Committee provide further assurance that irreparable harm would not occur. First, Natural England is required to undertake monitoring to demonstrate that conservation measures are having their intended effect. Secondly, should this monitoring show that conservation measures are not achieving their intended effectiveness, back-up measures, which must be included in an EDP, must be deployed. Finally, should an EDP reach its end-point or be revoked and the final report or revocation report show that it failed to achieve the overall improvement test, the Secretary of State must take such remedial action as they consider proportional to materially outweigh the negative effect of development on the environmental feature. The existing provisions and the amendments put forward by the Government therefore ensure that conservation measures are put in place to an appropriate timeframe and that irreparable harm is avoided.