Commons Bill [HL]

Happily, I think I can reassure the noble Lord that his amendment is not necessary. It is already possible for the owner of land to cause it to become common land, and it will continue to be possible under this Bill. In common law, if a right of common is granted or acquired over land, that land becomes common land. Nothing more is required. Under this Bill, if a person wishes to turn land in his freehold ownership into common land, he will be able to grant a right of common to any person under Clause 6. The grant must be attached to a new dominant tenement, and the land must be able to sustain that new right. That is the effect of Clause 6(5) as amended by Amendment No. 13, which we discussed last Tuesday. It would not be possible for the noble Lord to create a right in favour of his neighbour’s home to graze a thousand cattle over the noble Lord’s back garden because, unless it is a very large garden indeed, those cattle could not be sustained on that land. If, however, he were to create a right to collect fallen wood in favour of his neighbour’s home, that would seem perfectly proper. Clause 6(4)(b), as amended, would require the noble Lord’s back garden to become registered as common land as a direct consequence of the grant. I hope that what I have described would achieve the desired result, and that the noble Lord will agree that his amendment is not necessary. He made a point about this being simpler under Amendment No. 91A than by express grant. It is not possible to make the process of express grant much simpler. We have had this debate before. I already expect that formal grant will be prescribed under Clause 6, so it is only a matter of form-filling to get an express grant in this case. Before I sit down, I intend to consider with care the next group of amendments to which the noble Lord will speak. That is also true for Amendment No. 106 in the name of the noble Duke, the Duke of Montrose.