Commons Bill [HL]

moved Amendment No. 117:"Page 12, line 20, leave out ““person”” and insert ““commons registration authority””" The noble Baroness said: Amendment No. 117 is a probing amendment. The references to the payment of fees occur in Clause 19(3) under ““Inspection”” and Clause 20(4) under ““Official Copies””. In each case, the wording is:"““Conditions under subsection . . . may include conditions requiring the payment of a fee (which may be a fee determined by a commons registration authority)””." Clause 14, ““Registration of greens”” begins:"““Any person may apply to the commons registration authority to register land as a town or village green””." Clause 10, ““Attachment””, refers to the owner of the right applying to the commons registration authority. Clause 15, ““Deregistration and Exchange: applications””, is the only clause where the application is not to be made to the commons registration authority. In this case, it has to be made to ““the appropriate national authority””. Is that an oblique reference to a form of tax to be paid to the government by anyone wishing to swap one area of land for another? Or maybe I am reading in things that are not there. If it is the case, surely it should appear in Clause 15 as the other fee references appear in Clauses 19 and 20? Finally, the amendment of the register is surely the activity that should attract the fee, in which case it would be entirely appropriate for that fee to be paid to the commons registration authority. I beg to move.