Commons Bill [HL]

My Lords, I am grateful to the Minister for coming back on this matter. We had long discussions on it at earlier stages of the Bill, but it was only at Third Reading that the difficulty of commons association was raised in full, so I am very pleased to note the redefinition of the commons ““association”” to ““council””. We welcome that change, as will my noble friend the Duke of Montrose, who raised the matter again at Third Reading. This issue was originally drawn to our attention by Professor Ian Mercer from the Dartmoor Commoners Council, for which we are grateful. The difficulty was that if the body was an association then members could not be part of it. It is slightly technical and we are very pleased to see the amendment.