Commons Bill [HL]

On the principle that the noble Lord, Lord Livsey, has described behind the provision, my understanding concerning Cumbria is that the cost of establishing a number of the voluntary associations has been very considerable—tens of thousands of pounds. That is from people not in the general perception of ““well off””. Sheep and uphill farming is not one of the sectors currently booming in this country. If there were a simple and cheap way for voluntary commons associations to transform themselves into statutory commons associations, I am sure that ““procedure”” would be welcomed by the farming community and might bring forward take-up of statutory associations, which is something the Government wants. The noble Baroness said that it is up to any voluntary association to decide whether it wishes to be a statutory association. But my understanding of the structure of what is proposed is that it will be advantageous to be a statutory commons association. To take one illustrative example, in his remarks about severance—when I am afraid I was unable to be here—the Minister commented that severance would be possible in certain circumstances when there was a statutory commons association. But, as I understand it, it would not be the case where there was a voluntary commons association. So there are definite advantages that flow to the common and the commoners from being a statutory association, particularly in the spirit of what is behind this legislation. Commoners have often dug jolly deep into their own pockets to establish voluntary associations, which are what I think all parties would like to see. I hope that it will be possible to provide a mechanism so that they can move forward, if not as of right, at least in a manner that mitigates the administration and expense that falls on those concerned.