New Clause 4
Commons Bill [Lords]
2:45 pm
David Drew (Stroud, Labour)
I understand my hon. Friend’s situation—he is trying to forestall reopening that debate. I do not want to intrude on his private grief over what might happen if we compel Natural England to find village greens where they are not justified.
It is important to recognise that every community needs its own space to be protected. Giving that space the nomenclature of village or neighbourhood green, or whatever we want to call it—to return to the debate on who is likely to be responsible for it—would be an excellent thing for the Bill to do. I hope that, wearing his other hat, the Minister will go righteously from evangelism to promoting the measure as a good thing that comes on the back of the Bill.
The rest is rather technical. Even though it is important to underpin in statute what has been happening voluntarily for many generations, as my hon. Friend the Member for High Peak (Tom Levitt) said, it will not really set the world alight. What we are trying to do in the new clause could.