Clause 30

Part of Commons Bill [Lords] – in a Public Bill Committee at 6:45 pm on 25 April 2006.

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Photo of Roger Williams Roger Williams Opposition Whip (Commons), Shadow Minister (Environment, Food and Rural Affairs) 6:45, 25 April 2006

The way in which the members are appointed is important. The hon. Member for Stroud has suggested that there should be a democratic process, but other hon. Members have indicated that that might not always be the best way forward. I should have thought that commoners would want some democratic process for electing the people who would represent them on the statutory bodies, given that they will commit them to schemes and practices over which they will not have a direct influence.

On Second Reading, I indicated that there was a huge difference between the involvement of active and inactive commoners and whether a dominant tenement is in the ownership of a sole trader or a partnership—for example, whether one person may own six or seven dominant tenements around a common and whether he or she should have greater rights than a person owning one dominant tenement. Should there be some reflection of the fact that one person may have rights to graze 100 sheep and another has the right to graze 1,000? Should the many different commitments to the management of the common be reflected in a different election system?

The clause says that, by regulation, the national authority can indicate what sort of election process could be used to appoint members. Will the Minister say whether he has had any thoughts on that?