Commons Bill [Lords]

The Government accept that there may be financial implications, and we are prepared to put money into the start of the process, particularly for the purpose of professional skill building. I shall say more about that shortly. There will be an opportunity to rectify past mistakes relating to the 1965 Act, which have been raised by a number of organisations and people. The idea is to balance the scope to remove or add land to registers. Part 1 also prohibits the severance of rights of common. Severance happens when rights of common attached to a farm adjoining a common are sold separately from the farm itself. That can mean that rights are exercised by people with no ties or obligations to the commoning community. It can lead to disruptive and damaging grazing practices. Our stakeholders asked us to ban severance, which we have done, but we have also listened to those who have said in another place that some local exceptions are needed. We propose to table amendments in the Standing Committee to respond to fears expressed by the Dartmoor Commoners’ Council that it will not be able to exercise certain powers of a commons association. We take those fears seriously. I can tell the hon. Member for Buckingham that the regulations for which clause 3(5) provides will be subject to negative resolution. Clause 15 updates and clarifies the law relating to the registration of town or village greens. Greens are a vital part of our culture: they provide invaluable breathing space, right on the doorstep. The concept is ancient, but those areas remain as relevant today as they were when the locals used them for archery practice and community dancing. Yet greens are also a cause of controversy, particularly when development proposals arise. We have tried to strike a fair balance, and to provide certainty by consolidating the existing law on new registration of greens based on long use. Significant Government amendments were tabled to clause 15 in another place, where we were told that there was a lack of clarity. We shall return to one or two of them in Committee. In the background is the high-profile greens registration case known as Trap Grounds, which was recently heard by the Judicial Committee of the other place and now awaits its ruling.