Commons Bill [HL]

Just because I think that the Government are largely right on this provision, it does not mean that it cannot be improved. Things can always be improved. I am reluctant to pursue the matter of access because in general the fewer restrictions there are, the happier I am. I am really looking at the rights of people grazing their animals on a common as commoners. We need to get the issue of 28-day closures clear. If I have the tenancy or ownership of a piece of land, I am entitled to close that piece of land, even if it is access land, for up to 28 days a year, subject to all the other bits and pieces, such as not weekends and, if I remember rightly, not Christmas Day. If I am grazing my sheep on that piece of land because it is a common, I am a commoner and I can graze my sheep, do I have the same rights to apply for 28-day closure? If I do not as an individual—despite the fact that I am against 28-day closures as a matter of principle—it seems to me that the appropriate body that should be exercising that right is the commons association on behalf of the commoners collectively. If there are six commoners all grazing their sheep on the same bit of land, it is difficult for one of them to exercise those rights. If the commons association exists, there is a body that can do it. The Minister has accepted that in other aspects the commons association can express its views. It is not clear whether it will be consulted specifically, but it can express its views on matters like anybody else. That is the first question. Secondly, I do not think that the Minister—unless I went to sleep for 20 seconds—answered the question about wildlife. I got a bit carried away with beavers and wolves and so on, so let us talk about ground-nesting birds, which were raised by the noble Earl, Lord Peel. One particular example is lapwings—or chewits, as they used to call them in our part of the world. We all know that the main reason for the catastrophic decline in the number of lapwings in many moorland upland areas has been the improvement of pastures, particularly the pastures which surround the moorland where so many of the nests used to be. The Minister may say that the management of the vegetation is covered, but management of the vegetation for the purpose of encouraging more Lapwings on the common, for example, might be something that people locally want to do, or are persuaded to do, or they can get grants to do and so on. In appropriate places the commons association should be involved in that decision. If it is managing the common, surely the future of ground-nesting birds that use the common—whether lapwings, golden plovers, skylarks or whatever—should be a legitimate part of its activities. We would like some assurance on that.