Commons Bill [HL]

My Lords, I support the flexibility that the noble Lord, Lord Inglewood, is seeking to introduce. We are unlikely to get commons legislation again for several decades so it is important to install as much flexibility as possible while this legislation is going through. I personally believe that under-grazing, rather than over-grazing, will be the problem of the future. I support the amendment of the noble Lord, Lord Inglewood, and the local flexibility and autonomy that he aspires to. I also support the noble Earl, Lord Peel, who expressed concern about protection, whereby under the current proposal you could get a lot of stypes moving from all over the common on to one bit of the common, resulting in over-grazing. That would do a considerable amount of environmental damage. So I think that we have not quite got it right yet, but I should like to support the principles behind the amendment.