Commons Bill [HL]

I shall do my best. With regard to the CROW Act, all registered common land was mapped by the Countryside Agency and the Countryside Council for Wales for the purposes of the new public access arrangements under the CROW Act, where land is added to or removed from the common land register under the new registration and exchange provisions. There may be an expectation that the CROW maps will immediately be updated to reflect these changes. In fact the requirement in Section 10 of the CROW Act is for these conclusive maps to be reviewed at least every 10 years. It is at this 10-year review stage that we intend them to reflect any additions or removals from the register. This is already the position with regard to deregistration and exchange cases. Were we to go down the route of amending the conclusive maps every time there is a change to the register, this would in effect require perpetual modification of these maps, rather than the 10-year cycle set out in the CROW Act. The need for change would not always be straightforward, because the land might still qualify for inclusion if, for example, it were moorland. Excepted land, such as houses and gardens, is already exempt from access rights, even if it does appear on the CROW maps. On other land, the CROW arrangements include a local restriction system that, if necessary, can address any real problems that arise on the ground. The noble Baroness asked two other questions; first, how the views of the public would be known. There will be a process when an application is made, and part of that process will be the right of interested parties to respond to advertisements of the fact that there is an application and send in their views and opinions. All these will be taken into account by the Secretary of State or the national authority in deciding where the balance lies in allowing or refusing any application. Secondly, the legal remedy for those dissatisfied with whatever conclusion is reached, as is true of any dissatisfaction with a decision on administrative law, is judicial review. That would be open to those who were dissatisfied if they believed that the decision was outrageous.