Commons Bill [HL]

moved Amendment No. 152:"Page 16, line 20, at end insert—" ““(   )   claiming entitlements to environmental and other payments available from local, regional, national or European bodies;”” The noble Baroness said: Amendment No. 152 refers to the power of commons associations to claim entitlement. We have discussed their ability to claim money under agri-environment schemes, but I was prompted to table this probing amendment as a result of guidance published by the Rural Payments Agency. It was written before the Bill was published and I am sure that it will be reissued in the light of it. The guidance states,"““exceptionally a commons association may be able to establish a claim against entitlements on common land””." There is then a series of conditions which a commons association must fulfil and I believe that they would do so under the Bill. However, I want the Minister’s reassurance that the guidance will be written the other way round; that normally, a commons association will be able to claim such payments if its members decide to claim them as a whole body rather than individually. That will make agreement over the management of the common, for example, potentially much easier. As it stands, if a member of the commons association wants to claim a single farm payment and includes in that his part of the commons right, the single farm payment can be withheld if Defra, presumably having been advised by English Nature, believes that it is excessive—English Nature saying that he has too many animals on the common. I understand from commoners that the single farm payment can be withheld for the whole of their farm because they are not meeting the cross-compliance rules. The previous debate was interesting, but the single farm payment scheme has overtaken some of the arguments on over-grazing because Defra has the power to withhold payments from the whole farm. Individual members have found it hard to come to terms with the fact that they can lose the payment for their entire farm because the common is not being managed in a way that satisfies Defra. Individual members often feel that they do not have the power to deal with that, whereas the commons association dealing with the whole may be a much easier route. Indeed, that is the hope of those to whom I have spoken and the commons associations will need the power to make it work. I want to speak also to my Amendment No. 160, which enables a commons association to form a trading arm. I hope that the Government will accept it in some form. The thought behind it is that more local lamb, in particular, can be satisfactorily marketed under the name of the area in which it is raised; for example, salt marsh lamb or Dartmoor lamb. It would therefore be useful for the commons association to be able to apply for a designated area mark under which to market the produce of those who have grazing rights on the common and to be able to exploit the link between the locality and the meat that comes from it. Defra has been encouraging such an approach and it fits in well with the sustainable food and farming agenda. I therefore hope that the Government will look favourably on the amendment and I beg to move.