Commons Bill [HL]

I am interested to hear what the Minister has to say on this subject. He has raised some interesting questions. We are still not entirely clear on what liabilities commons associations might generate during their lifetime. Of course there could certainly be agri-environmental undertakings—I do not consider them to be liabilities—and I am not sure what would happen to such undertakings when the person undertaking them disappears. Obviously, if the liabilities and undertakings were to become too draconian, it is very unlikely that anyone would choose to set up a new commons association to take the place of the old one. This goes back to our earlier questions on whether some constraint should be placed on the way that debts are structured if they are engendered by a commons association. In the light of the Minister’s remarks, we would like to take the amendment away and see whether we can bring it back in a revised form. I beg leave to withdraw the amendment. Amendment, by leave, withdrawn. Clause 35 agreed to.