Commons Bill [HL]

I merely rise to support the noble Lord’s amendment. Perhaps before I do that, I should make a declaration as I did at Second Reading. I am a trustee of an estate in Cumbria which has extensive commons in the county. The reason I support the Minister is that, at that time, I mentioned that the 1965 register is now sadly out of date in many instances. The farmers have long gone or died and the farms have been sold. I received a briefing from the Federation of Cumbria Commoners, which exemplifies this point. It states that pne of the most significant defects of the 1965 Act was its failure to enable the identity of the current owners of rights of common to be ascertainable from an inspection of the register. This failure has caused constantly recurring problems for Defra, for commoners’ associations and for many others such as English Nature which have occasion to seek such information. A lot of has been made in this Bill of promoting commons associations. Without the sort of knowledge that I have described, their problems will become much greater. If the Government’s Amendment No. 4 is trying to correct the defects of the register, I would support it.