Webb quizzes Woolas

1.55.00pm BST (GMT +0100) Sat 3rd May 2008

[Apr 30] Steve Webb (Shadow Secretary of State for the Environment, Environment, Food & Rural Affairs; Northavon, Liberal Democrat): Those who live in coastal communities, especially those communities that are slightly more coastal than they were when people first moved in, want certainty on two points.

The first is the issue of abandonment. The Minister's apparently quite clear statement of a few seconds ago is clearly at variance with what other Government bodies are at least considering as an alternative, so does he speak with the authority of the full Government, and will none of the coastal communities be abandoned? The second point on which people want clarity is compensation. Given that the future of peoples' homes is entirely dependent on government policy, to the extent that anybody can do anything about the problem, surely there is an issue of compensation. We are talking about individuals who may well have lived in one place for generations. If they choose to live there, do the Government say, "Well, that's tough; if you live on the coast, you take the consequences"?

Phil Woolas (Minister of State, Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs; Oldham East & Saddleworth, Labour): The hon. Gentleman raises two very important points. We have the strategy, through the adaptation toolkit, which we are working on, including by having discussions with hon. Members in all parts of the House and local authorities. That is about what specific measures we need to take to ensure that bureaucracies do not get in the way of protecting peoples' communities. The adaptation toolkit is very important; I know that it does not sound it, but it is. Secondly, on abandonment, the difficulty in this debate is that, as I said before, the protection of one area of coastline can have an impact on another. It is simply not possible to protect everywhere. The word abandonment is, of course, very emotive.

The natural erosion of the coast, or increased erosion caused by climate change, is something that the Government could not stop in every instance, no matter how much money they spent. We need a fair set of criteria that are transparent and acceptable to the House, and that is the policy on which we are working. One can never talk about not abandoning areas if it is nature that is the problem. On the point about compensation, in the adaptation toolkit-

Michael Martin (Speaker): Order. I must try to get through the Order Paper. I ask hon. Members to appreciate that I must try to call those whose names are on the Order Paper.