Commons Bill [Lords]

Government amendment No. 1 is a consequential change that is necessary because of amendments that we are making to schedule 2, which we shall come to shortly. The amendment ensures that part 1 of the Bill will apply to land exempted from registration by order under section 11 of the Commons Registration Act 1965. The amendment will have no immediate effect on the excepted commons, which cover about 1,000 hectares and which are listed in the annex to the explanatory notes. However, it will ensure that excepted commons may be brought on to the registers under amendment No. 95. and so help to ensure that the registers are properly comprehensive on what is and what is not common land. Government amendments Nos. 2 to 4 and No. 11 make some minor amendments to clarify references to land in part 1. They ensure that in each place where an amendment is made—clauses 7, 15 and 16—a reference to land is taken to the land in England and Wales other than in the New forest, Epping forest and the forest of Dean. This approach is consistent with similar references elsewhere in the Bill. Without the amendments, there was a small risk that an application to register a green under clause 15, to vary a right of common under clause 6, or for exchange under clause 16, could cause land to be put forward for registration which was actually already unregistered common land in the areas exempted from registration under clause 5. These amendments resolve that risk. Government amendment No. 12 is a minor and technical provision that secures greater consistency. It removes a redundant reference to part 1 of the Commons Act 1899, which is a form of words not used elsewhere in the Bill. Government amendment No. 13 clarifies that the powers to correct mistakes in the register under clause 19 extend to mistakes made under the Commons Registration Act 1965. Given the many mistakes which occurred under that Act, it seems sensible to put the matter beyond doubt. Government amendment No. 15 clarifies that an application duly made under various provisions in part 1, which otherwise complies with any requirements imposed in the Bill or under regulations, must be granted. It makes it clear that registration authorities do not have a discretion to refuse an application other than on the criteria set out in the Bill or in regulations. The amendment does not apply to schedule 2 because the provisions in the schedule already put the requirement beyond doubt.