Commons Bill [HL]

My Lords, I thank the Minister for his explanation. I shall ask him about one part of it. I still have a concern about Clause 38(1) in that the amendments do not provide for the freedom of a landowner to carry out works on land with rights of common attached without the Secretary of State’s consent—I shall come to the issue of landowners and owners with rights of common in a minute. I fully acknowledge that both types of owner have a separate right of freehold that must be respected. My concern is that where a landowner wants to carry out reparation work on his land—that is, common land—but the rights of the common holders are inactive, he will be as good as prevented from doing that work unless he can get the Secretary of State to take time to assess his case, by which time it may be too late to undertake the remedial work. Can the Minister reassure me that, where this might happen, there is at the very least a quick and effective way of ensuring that landowners are not restricted from carrying out that necessary work where it does not conflict with the exercising of rights of common?