Member

What assurances can the Minister offer that such changes will not paradoxically lengthen timeframes and make further complications? Amendment 163B takes us a step further down this new road of divergence by requiring Natural England to have regard to guidance issued by the Secretary of State when deciding whether to accept a post-commencement request. On one reading, that offers consistency and greater ministerial oversight and control, but on another, perhaps more troubling, reading, it introduces a political lever over which the Government can exert pressure, which could impact the ability to have independent ecological assessments. Is it right that the Government are given these new powers, and what effective challenge would there be to them should they be agreed? What grounds, or hoops, would these powers need to go through before they are given?