New Clause 4
Commons Bill [Lords]
2:45 pm
David Drew (Stroud, Labour)
I support my hon. Friend the Member for Sherwood. He has made his argument clear. I have also made it clear that I prefer to talk about commons committees because of the debate that we had about councils, which I do not wish to reopen. I want to make a point about village and town greens. We have understandably taken a great deal of time discussing the minutiae of common land because the subject is hideously complicated. We would have spent most of our time searching through the interstices of every last detail with regard to such land. As for village greens, for which the Minister wears his other hat, the Government have a good story to tell about their work and that of the national lottery, which has found available money.
To finish on a more positive note, it is our objective, perhaps in word only if we are talking about the Government’s double devolution agenda and looking at trying to encourage neighbourhoods in urban areas, for every community, not only rural ones, to have a village or neighbourhood centre.