Commons Bill [Lords]

As many speakers have said, this Bill is a historic piece of legislation, linking us with the Norman conquest of Britain and the manorial system. Village greens and commons are part of our historical and natural heritage, and are valued for reasons of agriculture, recreation, landscape and nature conservation. There is a long history in this House of legislation relating to commons and village greens, but the Bill shows what happens when we fail to take account of the effect that measures can have once enacted. We need it to rectify the failures of the Commons Registration Act 1965, but we must ensure that any failures in this Bill do not take so long to put right. The Bill’s provenance is worth setting out in detail. An interdepartmental working group made recommendations in 1977 and the common land forum of 1984 reported in 1986. A consultation on the better management of common land in England and Wales led to the 2000 rural White Paper and the common land policy group set up by DEFRA and the Welsh Assembly in 2002 published a statement in 2003. All of that was needed to rectify failures in the 1965 Act. Many speakers have identified those failures and the need to ensure that the Bill drives forward to achieving the Government’s target of having 95 per cent. of SSSIs in England in a favourable condition by 2010. Common land covers 4 per cent. of land in England and 55 per cent. of commons are registered as SSSIs, but only half those sites meet their public service agreement targets. In Wales, between 8 and 9 per cent. of land is common land: 45 per cent. of that total comes under the SSSI designation, but only 16 per cent. of those sites have management agreements. I questioned the Countryside Council for Wales and was told that the targets in the Wales environment strategy action plan to be released in May will be lower than their equivalents in England. Where 95 per cent. of SSSIs in England are set to be in a favourable condition by 2010, the target in Wales is to have 95 per cent. of SSSIs in favourable condition or in unfavourable recovery by that date.