Commons Bill [HL]

My Lords, before I make my few remarks on Amendment No. 28, I should just like to say that the point made by the noble Lord, Lord Livsey, is well made. It would be a tragedy if we saw any of the environmental agencies moving in and acquiring rights at the expense of local farmers. I do not know whether the noble Lord is in receipt of the letter sent by Sir Martin Doughty, the chairman of English Nature, in which he made it clear—and I am sure that he is right—that such circumstances would prevail only in very rare cases when there was an overriding conservation need. I had expressed exactly the same view as the noble Lord. So having seen that correspondence, I feel reasonably happy that that will be the purpose of any intervention by Natural England or CCW. I shall speak briefly to Amendment No. 28. The Minister will know that I was extremely concerned about the amendment moved by my noble friend Lord Inglewood on the basis that I thought that it was likely to drive a coach and horses through one of the major pillars of the Bill on the question of severance. However, I think that the whole House, myself included, eventually acknowledged that the noble Lord had a good point. I am truly delighted that a sensible compromise has been reached in order to secure the concerns of my noble friend Lord Inglewood and those of us who were concerned that the amendment would have devastating consequences. I therefore take this opportunity to thank the Minister and his officials for having reached this compromise. We now have something that is really workable and my noble friend’s concerns have been dealt with. I realise that there is concern in certain quarters that the owner can exercise a veto. But I have always believed that this is essential because on many commons the owner has a very active part in the management. I am afraid that history has shown that where rights have been severed and farmers have acquired disproportionate rights to the size of the land they are farming, considerable environmental degradation can result. I welcome the fact that the Minister says that special cases for such severance will occur only in very rare circumstances. I really do believe that we have achieved something which at one stage I thought was impossible: a genuine compromise that meets the wishes of all of us on this very important matter.