Clause 32
Commons Bill [Lords]
9:00 am
Roger Williams (Shadow Minister (Rural Affairs), Environment, Food & Rural Affairs; Brecon and Radnorshire, Liberal Democrat)
I am sure that it will be a great pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Mr. Weir. I understand that it may be the first time that you have chaired a Standing Committee, and I am sure that you will find that we all behave in the best possible way. My party intends to support the Bill—the Minister has the privilege of steering it through and he has all-party support. However, it is our intention to improve it as muchas possible, because this is a once in a lifetime opportunity, and that is why we have tabled amendments.
Amendment No. 62—in the name of the hon. Member for South-East Cambridgeshire and myself—is similar to amendment No. 52. The Minister already indicated his anticipation that, whenthe statutory bodies representing commons are established, they may not be set up in relation to a single common but instead for a group of commons. In covering a range of commons, voluntary associations will still exist, and will still have purpose and function, bringing knowledge of local issues to the fore.
The amendment is therefore a probing amendment, as the right hon. Member for Penrith and The Border (David Maclean) said, and I hope that the Minister will say that what it proposes is how things should indeed work, and that the statutory association can act on behalf of the voluntary association in establishing agreements, including environmental agreements that will bring resources to commons, in order that commons achieve their agricultural and public purposes.
Amendment No. 102 proposes making arrangements for dispute resolution, and there is a further amendment that is intended to establish tribunals. On reflection—it is not just the Minister’s prerogative to reflect—our amendment No. 53 isbetter than amendment No. 103. Much of the implementation will be done by means of regulation, and I hope that statutory bodies will be given the power to resolve disputes, because if commons associations are to be more active in commons management, from time to time there will bedisputes about management, about implementation of agreements, and about the role of individual commoners. What we do not want is a costly system of court applications for every dispute, so we want the Bill to include a means for establishing dispute resolution procedures.
The amendments are small ones, but will be of great import when the statutory bodies are set up. We would like the Minister to consider them, and in his wisdom, agree to them in due course.