Mr. Tom Flynn:

There was an issue with regard to the section 5 procedure because there was no right of public participation involved. The consensus view was that the legality of this was questionable having regard to the Aarhus Convention and European provisions.

This is a refashioning of section 5 which does a number of things. The Bill broadens the scope of the declarations that can be sought and it changes the procedures, possibly purporting to address this. Many of these changes are probably not controversial and are welcome. Unusually, the Bill states the ability to use section 5 will be restricted to a limited category of person. A member of the general public will not have this right. We are not convinced that this is necessarily a step forward. It should certainly be questioned and looked at again. Many of the other proposals are welcome.