Clause 27
Commons Bill [Lords]
5:30 pm
James Paice (Shadow Minister (Agriculture & Rural Affairs), Environment, Food & Rural Affairs; South East Cambridgeshire, Conservative)
This is a short, straightforward amendment. It says that, under the procedure for establishment in clause 27(5), the appropriate national authority for the purposes of the debate—the Minister—must have particular regard to representations from three groups of people. We should make it clear that, under subsection (5)(b), it should not only be those who are entitled to exercise rights of common over such land. We have already heard how many rights are not exercised, but what matters is that the role of those who do exercise the rights over the land rather than those who just own the rights should be particularly important. In other words, if they were to receive an application to establish an association and it transpired that virtually everyone who was pursuing it may hold rights and be entitled to exercise them, but have not done so since the year dot—or, at least since 1965—clearly that application would be considered baseless. The amendment does not require great changes to be made to the Bill, but it is important that we ensure that the voice of the active commoners—those who are exercising their rights, and who obviously have a much greater role in the management of the common, which is what the Bill is about—is strong.