Commons Bill [Lords]

I rise to support the amendments, but I want to press the Minister about the need in due course to produce regulations dealing with submitting notification of transfers and keeping the registers up to date. At present, the registers record the existence of common rights, but not who owns them. If the rights were not registered in 1965, they have ceased to exist. The problem is that there is no register of who owns common rights. The registers reflected the position in 1965 but they have not been updated since, and numerous transfers and sales of rights have taken place. The Bill does not really improve the situation. After reflecting and consulting widely on the matter, I entirely accept that we cannot reopen the registers. Like his predecessor in Committee, the Minister is right about that. Although there are many injustices because the registers were not reopened, I am now convinced that as many new injustices would arise if we reopened them and tried to correct the mistakes. Too much time has passed, and it is no longer possible to do anything about it. However, in respect of notification, the Government assert that, if information on ownership is required, it is a simple matter to search the dominant tenement, as detailed in the registers of common rights. That search can be carried out at the Land Registry, but I stress to the Minister—I think that his officials know this already—that that is a very cumbersome process for several reasons. First, the field numbers detailed in the commons registers are no longer used, so it is difficult to identify the dominant tenement without considerable research. Secondly, numerous searches of the Land Registry would have to be made, one for each entry on the commons registers with rights attached to land. Thirdly, searches of the Land Registry would have to be repeated every time that a list of owners was required, as there is no process for keeping the ““live”” register updated. Finally, the costs of collating information would be burdensome on the party that needed it. Sometimes, that would be the Minister’s Department, but on other occasions it would be English Nature when it was undertaking conservation work, or commoners wishing to enter agri-environment schemes or form commons associations. The Government argue that there can be only one definitive record of ownership. If there were more than one record of that, they ask, which would take priority if there were inconsistencies between the Land Registry and the commons register entries? Their reasoning is undoubtedly correct, but that should not prevent them from making it a requirement that transfers of rights must be notified to the relevant local authority, perhaps accompanied by a certificate from the Land Registry. The commons registers would not be proof of ownership—only the Land Registry documents could provide that—but they would least be worthwhile, because they would contain useful documents about where ownership truly lay. The problem is that, without up-to-date records of the ownership of rights, the proper management of commons is very difficult. Owners cannot be consulted on entry to agri-environment schemes, breaches of rules cannot be identified easily, and consultation on works such as construction or fencing cannot be undertaken properly. Moreover, the lack of up-to-date records makes consultation on the formation of statutory commons councils or associations very difficult. In conclusion, I want to make the following suggestion—that the regulations that I hope that the Minister will make will encourage the notification of transfers. The Land Registry will continue to be the bible of who owns what, but I hope that the Minister will assure the House that he will bring in regulations providing for some sort of notification system when rights are transferred. That notification could then be placed in the commons registers, so that we would have a more up-to-date record of who owns the land. That would make consultation, and all the other things that I have mentioned, much easier. I hope that the Minister will be minded to do what I suggest. I am not looking for firm guarantees today, but I also hope that he does not give me a firm put-down. I accept that this matter is not the top priority, and that he may have other regulations to make first, but I hope that he will say that he at least sees the merit of my proposal and considers that it could be worthwhile. I should like a guarantee that he will consult about it in the next year to see whether it has legs. If he finds that it does have legs, I shall give him my full backing—even though he can run a lot faster than I can these days.