Clause 37
Commons Bill [Lords]
9:45 am
Roger Williams (Shadow Minister (Rural Affairs), Environment, Food & Rural Affairs; Brecon and Radnorshire, Liberal Democrat)
I rise to make the same point that I made on clause 26, which concerns the establishment of a statutory commons association. The point I made then was about who has the power to initiate or make such an application. I believe that the Minister replied not to that point, but to a point that he wanted to make. The issue is about who can make an application for variation or revocation of establishment orders, because somebody could make a malicious or vexatious application to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, to Natural England or to the National Assembly for Wales. Unless there is a limit on people who canmake applications, then commons associations and commoners could have a huge amount of work imposed on them, as could the Minister’s own Department, so the Bill should say who can apply for establishment orders and who can apply for revocation.