Commons Bill [HL]

moved Amendment No. 139:"Page 15, line 40, at end insert ““from monies owned by the commons association””" The noble Duke said: We want here to place a restriction in the Bill to protect local authorities and hence the council tax payer from having to subsidise the running of commons associations unduly. We have elsewhere asked questions about who will pay for public inquiries and the costs involved in changing registers and setting up commons associations. The Minister was gracious enough to make some comment about that earlier. One-off costs are quite different from ongoing charges, and the distribution of commons and greens is not even across the country. To ask some local taxpayers to pick up running costs for commons associations, while leaving others free to enjoy the benefits but bear no pain, is unfair. Furthermore, placing the onus on the commons associations themselves should militate against an overgenerous scale of allowances where the income from the commons cannot support it. I shall speak to Amendment No. 141. There is a large amount of detail in the Bill tying commons associations to stringent rules. Compared with the lack of details and stringency binding the Government, does the Minister feel that to be reasonable? I beg to move.