Commons Bill [HL]

moved Amendment No. 24:"Page 27, line 14, at end insert—" ““(   )   Where subsection (1) applies and a commons association established under Part 2 does not exist in relation to the land, a local authority may assume and exercise any of the rights of management of the land which would otherwise be held by the owner, until such time as a commons association exists or the owner is identified.”” The noble Lord said: My Lords, this is one of the important remaining issues, which has run throughout our proceedings in this House—the matter of unclaimed commons, which have no known owners and are therefore in a state of limbo. There are two major problems. First, there is the    problem of encroachment and unauthorised development of all sorts—big, small and very small blockages and so on. Secondly, there is the problem of inadequate management and, in some cases, dire neglect, when nobody is looking after the common, in which case, the common may be overgrown, it may be a mess or it may be used as a tip or a dump. I shall not discuss the matter in detail or detain your Lordships with a long list of commons in that situation—but I do have a long list here from all parts of the country, from the Lake District, the Pennines, the south-west and the Midlands, where there are all sorts of problems with things happening on commons which ought not to be happening and which are unauthorised, but there is no owner to stop those things happening and nobody is bothering about it. The basic reason is that they are unclaimed—they are commons with nobody to own them or look after them. We discussed the matter in considerable detail in Committee, when I proposed that local authorities should have the power, though not the duty, to take over ownership of such commons—and I would still prefer that option to be available. But it has been resisted by the Government, and we are clearly not going to make progress on it, so I shall not move such an amendment today. On Report I tabled the amendment which is repeated today in Amendment No. 24, which sets out powers for local authorities to manage such commons as if they were the owners until such time as a commons association takes it over or until owners turn up and claim the common. The noble Baroness, Lady Farrington, told me on Report that that was unnecessary because there were already statutory powers for local authorities, parish councils and principal councils to do just that, so it did not need to be put in the Bill. We had a lively discussion about that and, subsequently, the Minister wrote to us about all sorts of things, including setting out the powers that the Government believe local authorities have. The noble Baroness, Lady Farrington, said:"““The local authority may consider taking the land in hand and managing it as if it were the owner””.—[Official Report, 30/11/05; col. 282.]" The letter set out various statutes, including the Local Government Act 2000, the Open Spaces Act 1906 and the Commons Act 1899, which the Government believe give all the powers necessary. Today, I have tabled an amendment to get that ministerial statement on record, so that Members of the House of Commons can consider the matter, challenge what has been said if they think that it is not right and discuss it further—because it may go further. Alternatively, it will simply be there on the record and everybody will know what the position is. It would be extremely helpful if the noble Baroness would do that now. Will she also consider whether the guidance that the Government have promised, which will be given to local authorities, could include the information that I hope and trust she will now give us, to encourage them to be much more proactive in looking after the commons? I beg to move.