Commons Bill [HL]

I am grateful to the Minister for responding to the recommendation of the Delegated Powers and Regulatory Reform Committee. I am sure it will be supported. Amendment No. 184 is grouped with Amendment No. 183 and is a probing amendment designed to test the latitude the Government intend the court to have. Would it be possible, for example, under this legislation for the court to refuse to make an order on the grounds that the rule in question was itself unreasonable? Would it be possible for the court to have regard to other legislation in reaching its decision? Hence, once the Bill is law, will it be possible for a commons association to make a rule that no one other than a person named by the association may remove stolen, strayed or abandoned animals—an issue we discussed earlier—from the common and to specify that contravention is an offence? Would it then be legal for the association to pursue through the court any organisation or individual who came on the common with the intent of ““rescuing”” such animals? I raise this issue because when I was in Wales—lovely Wales—on the Brecon Beacons in September, an example of such a scenario was recounted by a representative of a commons association management committee. Some people from what I would class as a welfare group came and scooped up and removed—““rescued””—an animal. This kind of action can cause great distress to both the rescued animals and wildlife in general. The rescuers claimed that their efforts were legally justifiable, and in that situation, which involved horses, the police agreed. A number of issues are raised in a situation where someone who is not involved in the day-to-day running of a common takes such actions, and that is why we have raised the matter. If it is an issue which requires more and wider thought, I am quite happy for the Minister to come back to me later. But this was a real issue raised by someone who was very concerned about the rescue or removal of stray animals in a way that caused great distress to the animals concerned without any justification.