Commons Bill [HL]

moved Amendment No. 40:"Page 18, line 28, after ““of”” insert ““reasonable””" The noble Baroness said: My Lords, in Committee we had many contributions on fees and the amounts that might be charged. The noble Lords, Lord Williams of Elvel and Lord Chorley, the noble Earl, Lord Caithness, and several others spoke about their concerns with this section of the Bill. We have statements from existing associations of commoners that cite fees of a few pounds leading, because of the numbers involved, to annual budgets of £50,000 or thereabouts. That is modest for some of what may be bigger groupings. Such organisations work to the clear benefit of the holders of rights, the land, and probably the general public. Smaller commons with fewer commoners may not have the formal organisation at all. One reason may be that the cost of creating one could be prohibitive. Under the Bill, however, commons associations will be encouraged—if not enforced—even where the burden is thinly spread. We are concerned that the commoners, some of whom will have small incomes—I suspect that some will have very little income at the moment—should not be placed under the type of pressure that is becoming ever more frequent for pensioners who are faced, for example, with rapidly mounting council tax bills. We are even more concerned that the setting of unreasonable fees may force commoners to abandon their rights. Were such a thing to happen, there is no doubt that some people would be unscrupulous enough to try to take advantage of the situation. When we debated this matter more fully in Grand Committee, the noble Baroness, Lady Farrington, stated:"““we envisage associations raising funds through subscriptions paid by commoners and other participants””.—[Official Report, 9/11/05; col. GC218.]" Who, in particular, are ““other participants””? She went on to use the expression, ““at a modest level””. I believe that a ““reasonable”” level is probably better phraseology and our amendment uses that word. I hope that the Minister who responds will consider the amendment as a reasonable contribution which I hope will improve the Bill. In her response, the noble Baroness, Lady Farrington, said the setting of fees was primarily a matter for the association. Yes, that is right; but it is important that the associations set fees that are relevant and appropriate, and we feel that the insertion of our little word ““reasonable”” is preferable to her word ““modest””, as recorded in the Official Report. I beg to move.