Commons Bill [HL]

I strongly support Amendment No. 30. The commoners and commons associations in the south west of England in particular would very strongly support this proposal too. I hope that the Minister will seek in his response to disperse their anxieties that we might end up with more division rather than more rationalisation and more accumulation of commons. Surely the principles of local determination and rationalisation of some very complex commons rights must be at the centre of this legislation. I would have thought that they would be absolutely explicit in everything that the Government are seeking to do, not least in terms of CAP reform and the need to pay better attention to the requirements of biodiversity, both of which are going to be extremely difficult to meet if we have more division and less consolidation of the commons. Surely the best way to achieve that is to make this an absolute priority for the commons associations. I hope that we will hear a very positive response from the Minister on Amendment No. 30.