Commons Bill [HL]

I am grateful to my noble friend for giving way. I find his response unsatisfactory. The point about common land is that there is an owner and there are commoners who have rights on the land. At present, the enforcement of the law on common land is the job only of the police. So it is fine if the owner decides that he wants a rally and gets approval from the association. So far as I know, at the moment, commoners have very little say in that decision. I can only speak for Gilwern Hill. The 28 commoners do not like bikes and four-by-fours being driven across the common but they are frightened at the idea of ringing up the Llandrindod Wells police station and getting the two cars from Newtown, 30 miles away, by which time everyone would have left the common. I hope that my noble friend will listen very carefully to what I am saying in this amendment: if the commons association, together with the owner, had certain rules, the owners would ensure that, at least in part, their livelihood—agricultural activity—was protected.