Commons Bill [HL]

moved Amendment No. 73:"Page 8, line 25, at end insert—" ““(9A)   An application for land to cease to be registered as common land shall not be considered if the release land is to be used for non-agricultural purposes unless— (a)   a planning application has been approved by the local planning authority for the proposed non-agricultural use; and (b)   a favourable impact assessment has been made on the agricultural sustainability of the replacement land.”” The noble Lord said: Amendment No. 73 would add to the wording of the Bill to ensure that in a situation of deregulation and exchange not only would the owner or leaseholder give consent but, where it involved non-agricultural purposes, the process would be subject to a planning application so that it was approved by the local planning authority. We think that that procedure should be adopted where non-agricultural use is to be authorised. In proposed new subsection (9A)(b) of the amendment, we would also require a favourable impact assessment to be made of the agricultural sustainability—or, if the Minister prefers, agricultural viability—of the replacement land. We believe that those processes make a great deal of common sense. I know of problems in certain places, and I shall give the Committee two examples. For some reason, some urban local authorities have turned a blind eye to the creation of golf courses on common land. Perhaps there has not been a very cohesive commons association or perhaps common land was claimed at one point but mistakes were made in the registration as a result of the Commons Registration Act 1965. Indeed, in one case that I can cite, a large chunk of the best grazing on a piece of common land has been converted into a golf course and that has caused much upset in the courts in a certain part of Wales. The local authority was extremely lax in its application, even though it was a commons registration authority. It paid hardly any attention to its duties because it was bogged down by huge questions of unemployment and so on in other areas. In another case, a private landowner in a different part of Wales decided to ignore the commoners’ rights and constructed a common land golf course. At least, he is attempting to do so—it is not complete. The amendments would put a stop to such things and ensure that everything was done in an orderly manner. I beg to move.