Mr.
Drew: I shall withdraw the amendment, although I think
that the point about non-agricultural use of common land could be worth
reflecting on. I beg to ask leave to withdraw the amendment.
Amendment, by leave,
withdrawn.
Clause 46 ordered to stand
part of the Bill.
Clause 47 ordered to stand
part of the Bill.
Clause
48Inclosure Question
proposed, That the clause stand part of the
Bill.
The
Chairman: With this it will be convenient to consider new
clause 1— Notice of inclosure—and Government
amendment No. 29.
Jim
Knight: Section 31 of the Commons Act 1876, with certain
exceptions, requires anyone intending to inclose or approve part of a
common to publish notice of that intention in a prescribed way at least
three months beforehand.
Inclosure and approvement
relate solely to land that is still subject to commoners’
rights—the traditional common, rather than waste land of a manor
that has no common rights over it. Inclosure—with an
‘i’, not an ‘e’—is the term that
describes the owner taking actions on the ground that have the effect
of completely stripping the common of the commoners’ rights.
Approvement is a lesser form of that, whereby the owner takes into his
exclusive use part of the common that is not required to satisfy the
commoners’ rights, while leaving the remainder subject to those
rights. Section 31
provided an opportunity for commoners or others to object to either
type of change before it happened, so it was a very important provision
in its time. However, it was, in effect, superseded by the protection
offered by section 194 of the Law of Property Act 1925. Any action on
the ground that would be sufficient to constitute an inclosure or
approvement would certainly impede the commoners’ access over
the land in question, and therefore require consent from the Secretary
of State under section 194. That would explain why we know of no case
in which the action required by section 31 of the 1876 Act has actually
been taken. When part 3 replaces section 194, it will similarly require
consent for works that impede the commoners’—or anyone
else’s—access to or over the land.
We could simply leave section
31 extant, but there is a slight possibility that it could cause
confusion with the procedure that we will prescribe for proposed works
on a common. Our objective for part 3 is that the procedures and
criteria for proposed works be as consistent and clear as possible. On
balance, therefore, it is right to repeal section 31 as a provision
that has become
redundant. Subsection
(2) of new clause 1 is a consequential amendment to section 3 of the
Metropolitan Commons Act 1878, which refers to section 31 of the 1876
Act. Question put
and agreed to.
Clause 48 ordered to stand
part of the Bill.
The
Chairman: We now come to clause 49 and a number of other
clauses to which no amendments have been tabled. Does any member of the
Committee wish to speak to any of the
clauses?
Jim
Knight: On a point of order, Mr. Weir. Do
Government new clause 1 and Government amendment No. 29 need to be
moved?
The
Chairman: I understand that they will be moved
later. Clauses 49
to 59 ordered to stand part of the
Bill.
Clause
60Extent 2.45
pm Amendment
made: No. 38, in clause 60, page 31, line 35, leave out subsection
(2).—[Jim
Knight.] Clause
60, as amended, ordered to stand part of the
Bill.
New
Clause
1Notice
of inclosure ‘(1) Section 31
of the Commons Act 1876 (c. 56) (three months' notice of claim to
inclose to be given in local papers) shall cease to have
effect. (2) In section 3 of the
Metropolitan Commons Act 1878 (c. 71), for “Sections thirty and
thirty-one” substitute “Section 30”.'
—[Jim
Knight.] Brought
up, read the First and Second time, and added to the
Bill.
New
Clause
2Schemes
under the commons act
1899 ‘(1) The
Commons Act 1899 (c. 30) is amended as
follows. (2) In section 1
(power of councils to make schemes for the regulation of
commons)— (a) in
subsection (1), for the words from “their district” to
the end substitute “in the public
interest”; (b) after
that subsection
insert— “(1A) In
subsection (1), the reference to the public interest includes the
public interest in— (a)
nature conservation; (b) the
conservation of the
landscape; (c) the protection
of public rights of access to any area of land;
and (d) the protection of
archaeological remains and features of historic
interest.” (3) In that
section, in subsection (3), omit the words from “, and
for” to the end. (4) In
that section, after subsection (3)
insert— “(4)
Regulations under subsection (3)
may— (a) prescribe
alternative forms; (b) permit
exceptions or modifications to be made to any prescribed
form.” (5) In section 2
(procedure for making
scheme)— (a) for
subsections (1) to (3) and the first paragraph of subsection (4)
substitute— “(1)
A council is to make and approve a scheme under this Part of this Act
in the prescribed
manner.”; (b) renumber
the second paragraph of subsection (4) as subsection
(2). (6) For section 9 (power
to amend scheme)
substitute— “9
Power to amend or revoke
scheme (1) A scheme under this
Part of this Act for any common may, in prescribed circumstances, be
amended in the prescribed
manner. (2) A scheme under this
Part of this Act for any common may, where a new scheme is made under
this Part of this Act for the whole of that common, be revoked in the
prescribed manner.” (7)
For section 10 (byelaws)
substitute— “10
Byelaws
(1) A council which has made a scheme under this
Part of this Act in relation to any common may make byelaws for the
prevention of nuisances and the preservation of order on the
common. (2) Sections 236 to 238
of the Local Government Act 1972 (which relate to the procedure for
making byelaws, authorise byelaws to impose fines not exceeding level 2
on the standard scale, and provide for the proof of byelaws in legal
proceedings) apply to all byelaws under this
section.”'—[Jim
Knight.] Brought
up, and read the First
time.
Jim
Knight: I beg to move, That the clause be read a Second
time.
The
Chairman: With this it will be convenient to discuss
Government amendment No.
30.
Jim
Knight: The Commons Act 1899 gives local authorities power
to make schemes of management over particular commons. The proposals
would update that power to make it fit for purpose in the 21st
century. Question
put and agreed
to. Clause read
a Second time, and added to the
Bill.
New
Clause
4Duties
of natural england ‘Natural
England shall have a duty to promote the formation of statutory commons
associations, the wellbeing of common land and the creation of village
and town greens.'. —[Paddy
Tipping.] Brought
up, and read the First
time.
Paddy
Tipping: I beg to move, That the clause be read a Second
time. By virtue of the
nature of our work, we have spent a lot of time talking about the
legislative framework of the Bill. I am worried that, because we have
focused on that, we have not debated in great detail the vehicle that
will drive the Bill’s important aims forward. As many members of
the Committee have said, Commons Bills do not come often and the whole
point of this Bill is to improve our common
land. My new clause,
which is supported by my hon. Friends the Members for Stroud and for
Pudsey (Mr. Truswell) is straightforward. Its aim is to place a duty on
Natural England to bring forward three proposals, the first of which is
to promote the formation of statutory commons associations. Throughout
our discussions, there has been a recognition on both sides of the
Committee that that will not be easy. People will hesitate to take the
step to move from a voluntary association to a statutory association.
They will need help, guidance and support. On Tuesday the Minister
recognised, as he has done today, the importance of Natural England in
such matters. His words were preceded by the comments of Lord Bach in
the other place, who was talking strongly about how Natural England
needs to be involved in the creation of statutory commons
associations. The
second aim of the Bill is to promote the well-being of common land,
which is why we have spent two days talking about improving common land
and ensuring that SSSIs come up to status.
The third aim, which we have
debated widely, is a laudable objective in itself. It is to promote
more town and village greens. Research shows that people care about
their local communities and environments. The creation of new village
and town greens will not happen by itself. I want Natural England to be
involved. It is a new body with a whole range of tasks before it. It
faces a difficult period in being set up. I want Natural England to
know that the Bill is important, and I want it to have the power to
make sure that we have statutory commons associations, common land is
in good condition and that we move radically and quickly towards the
formation of new town and village greens.
Mr.
Llwyd: The argument put forward by the hon. Gentleman is
perfectly reasonable. I do not come under the auspices of Natural
England, but in my humble opinion, if the duty of promotion will fall
on Natural England’s shoulders, it will be easier for it to
promote movement if we have a new name for the commons bodies. In all
sincerity, I believe that the name “commons association”
is no good. It will create difficulties and it will make promotion
difficult. We had a discussion on Tuesday when the Minister said that
he would think about it. Whether we adopt the term commons council or
another name is an important issue. It is not beyond the ken of all of
us to find a word. Councils might be a proper name—I do not
know—but associations in that context is not; it is a recipe for
disaster and will not assist the Minister’s hopes in promoting
anything.
Mr.
Drew: 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.
Tom
Levitt (High Peak) (Lab): I have a lot of sympathy with
the aims that my hon. Friend is trying to achieve through the new
clause. On the creation of town and village greens and the role of
Natural England, does he anticipate that the duty will be a general
duty, or an advisory duty? Would Natural England be allowed some
discretion to advise on what might be a good plan for a village or town
green and what might be otherwise, or does he expect Natural England to
support every application willy-nilly?
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