Commons Bill [HL]

I should like to comment briefly on all three of the amendments in the group. Amendment No. 149 addresses the function of commons associations to make,"““rules relating to the agricultural use of the land for which the association is established””." Perhaps I will be corrected if I am wrong, but the effect of the amendment is that a commons association would be unable to make rules about the agricultural use of land on its own common. Whether I am right in that, I am not sure, but that is how I interpret it. Amendment No. 151 would remove from commons associations the function of,"““making rules relating to the leasing or licensing of rights of common””," and thus would protect landowners from rule making. It seems inequitable that commons associations would be subject to rules, but landowners who lease or license grazing rights would not be. The final amendment in the group, Amendment No. 162, seeks to leave out subsection (4)(a), which addresses the right of commons associations to use grazing surplus land for which the association has been established. Removing the paragraph would leave surplus land entirely with the owners of the land. While I realise that that is traditional in common law, there are a few fundamental issues here which perhaps need further explanation.