Schedule 1
Commons Bill [Lords]
3:15 pm
James Paice (Shadow Minister (Agriculture & Rural Affairs), Environment, Food & Rural Affairs; South East Cambridgeshire, Conservative)
Amendments Nos. 41, 39 and 40, which stand in my name, relate to the issue of the authorised severance of rights, as does the schedule. As drafted, the schedule makes it possible for those who want to transfer their rights voluntarily to transfer them to the commons association or to Natural England or the CCW in Wales. If they want to transfer them to the latter two, various things must be done under subsection (2).
There is some concern among the public about why Natural England or CCW would want, or should have, these rights. Neither organisation is likely to use grazing rights, as they are not farmers; they are not likely to want to cut turf or carry out any other rights that may be relevant. The understanding is that they will want to acquire them simply to extinguish them, to ensure that they are not used for conservation purposes. I question whether it is right for them effectively to extinguish those rights without other rights holders having the opportunity to be involved. Amendment No. 41 would remove the opportunity to transfer rights to Natural England or the CCW but leaves the possibility of transferring them to the statutory body.
Amendments Nos. 39 and 40 take a slightly different tack, which is probably preferable. They would enable the transfer to the statutory body but would then allow that body subsequently to transfer the rights, with or without some form of payment, to anybody else who already held similar rights on that piece of land, and that is the right way to proceed.
If there is a concern about over-grazing—there is in some cases, although on many commons there could increasingly be the problem of under-grazing—the process that the Bill sets up, the concept of statutory bodies having agreements under the stewardship schemes and so on, with Natural England and the CCW, is about the totality of management. That is the way to address the problems of over-grazing.
The remarks that I made on Tuesday are relevant in that regard: some people may have over-registered in the first place, for whatever reason, and that is often the cause of over-grazing. I strongly doubt that the people who over-registered will voluntarily transfer their rights to Natural England so that they can be extinguished; I might have more sympathy with the idea if that were the case.
I challenge the idea that Natural England or the CCW should be the recipients of the transfer of rights. If people want to give up their rights and transfer them, they should go to the association or statutory body, which should decide whether to keep them, to extinguish them or simply not to use them, which would be entirely within their rights, or to transfer them to other rights holders.
The under-grazing issue is especially relevant because the people who are most likely to want to transfer their rights are those who do not use them. It would be of no value to transfer them to Natural England to extinguish them, because they are not being used in the first place. Where there is a problem of under-grazing I contend that if those who are not using their rights could be persuaded to transfer them to the association and subsequently transfer them to someone who wants to use them it would go a long way to address the problem of under-grazing.
In some ways, this part of the schedule is backto front. As far as under-grazing is concerned, transferring to Natural England will not work. As far as over-grazing is concerned, agreements with Natural England through Government stewardship schemes are a better way forward than transfers, because I strongly suspect that the people responsible for the over-grazing will not be the ones voluntarily transferring their rights.
My amendments suggest that we should shift the balance and give the responsibility for agricultural management, which includes the use of rights, directly to the statutory body and let that body decide who should have the transferred rights. That is why I have moved the amendments. I hope that the Minister will consider them carefully.