Environmental Targets (Public Authorities) Bill [HL]

Viscount Eccles Excerpts

Friday 13th June 2025 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Young of Old Scone (Lab)]

My Lords, I hesitate to speak because I am very conscious that the next debate is waiting to begin. I thank the noble Lord, Lord Evans, for his amendment, and mainly for the degree of clarity it gave me on the status of the Canal & River Trust. According to the ONS, it is a public non-financial corporation as well as a charity, an interesting status that I have never come across before.

There is huge scope for debate about what goes on and comes off the list, although I would prefer it to be mostly about what goes on it. I will give another example to that of the noble Baroness, Lady Coffey, who rightly pointed out that mayoral authorities should be on the list. I will make the case for one particularly important body, for which I should have tabled an amendment. If the Bill proceeds further, I will table an amendment to bring the newly created National Infrastructure and Service Transformation Authority—NISTA—on to the list. It has been set up to implement the 10-year national infrastructure strategy. It will have a key influence on land use and development, and their impact on climate and environment targets.

Under its memorandum of understanding, I believe that it has inherited—although it is very difficult to track this down—the climate change duties from one of its predecessor bodies, but it is not clear whether it has any duties towards the environmental and biodiversity targets. It is very important that this hugely impactful infrastructure role be brought on to the list. I do not believe that the Government can achieve both the climate change and the biodiversity and other environmental targets if bodies such as NISTA are not tasked with pulling their weight on this when exercising their powers and delivering their primary objectives. I believe that bodies can walk, talk and chew gum and that the future of this planet, this nation and this economy depends on all public bodies learning to do that. It is possible.

[Viscount Eccles (Con)]

My Lords, I apologise; I am very conscious of the time. I support my noble friend’s amendment.

In making another suggestion for the list, I declare my interests: I was the chairman of Kew Gardens and I am involved in the Millennium Seed Bank and all it does. The most important sentence in the Bill says,

“take all reasonable steps to meet the environmental recovery objective”.

Kew is right in the middle of doing things to recover the environmental objective, and I very strongly believe that it should be added to the list. Indeed, I am quite surprised that it has not been included already.