Clause 46
Commons Bill [Lords]
2:30 pm
Jim Knight (Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Rural Affairs, Landscape and Biodiversity), Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs; South Dorset, Labour)
I shall address the amendment, then deal with the other points that have been made.
The purpose of the amendment is to allow a national authority to take action to stop an unauthorised activity on a common and recover its cost, where a person fails to comply with a court order requiring them to cease that activity. We do not see a role for a third party, such as the national authority, trying to physically stop an unauthorised agricultural activity. If, for example, a court orders a person to cease depasturing livestock beyond the number of rights held, the authority would have to find, identify and remove the offending animals. That would be difficult on a large upland common. The authority would then have to engage in further proceedings in order to recover costs from the individual concerned, which might be unsuccessful if they had already ignored the original court order. A more effective approach is to use the judicial system to ensure that the individual, who knows his livestock and where they graze, personally takes action. That may take longer to achieve in some circumstances, but in the long run it will be more cost-effective. The provision carries the ultimate sanction, once a number of hurdles have been overcome, if it becomes necessary, of contempt of court proceedings.
My hon. Friend the Member for Stroud and the hon. Member for Meirionnydd Nant Conwy asked why we have addressed agricultural activities only and wanted us to think about non-agricultural activities harming a common. As they anticipated, my answer is that a range of instruments already exists for dealing with unlawful activities that might be damaging a common, such as driving a motor vehicle over it, or building on it without consent. It would not be appropriate for the national authority to have powers of enforcement against criminal activities that lie more properly with the police. We have to be clear about where those responsibilities lie.
Section 59 of the Police Reform Act 2002 allows the police to seize any mechanically propelled vehicle being driven in a careless or inconsiderate manner on or off road.