Clause 16
Commons Bill [Lords]
12:45 pm
Paddy Tipping (PPS (Rt Hon Jack Straw, Secretary of State), Foreign & Commonwealth Office; Sherwood, Labour)
I shall use my time constructively. Clause 16 deals with the deregistration and exchange of common land. Amendment No. 32, in my name and that of my hon. Friend the Member for Stroud, and the other amendments all reflect the concern of the Committee that pieces of land of less than 200 sq m may not be properly protected.
The clause gives a permissive power of replacement, but under the amendments, when an exchange of land is to take place, whatever its size, new common land should be put in place. My feeling—I am delighted that it is shared by other members of the Committee—is that common land is mostly not large areas of open countryside but small, fragmented spaces. If land of less than 200 sq m is not replaced, we will see the gradual eating away of commons. That is the purpose of the amendments. I hope that the Minister will consider them.