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Commons Bill [HL]

I apologise to the Committee for being slightly late. I am a victim of there being no public transport in my area and the consequences of that. Amendment No. 194 reads:"““Page 19, line 34, after ‘authority’, insert ‘in consultation with the relevant commons association’””." The purpose of the amendment is to ensure that a commons association is consulted when the national authority proposes to give consent for any restricted works to be carried out on land to which this section of the Bill applies. Surely, at the every least, a commons association should have the opportunity to be consulted where restricted works are involved, and it seems odd that there is nothing in the Bill to indicate that. It would be good if the amendment were accepted in that, in the normal course of events, one would expect a commons association to be consulted in such circumstances. Again, I apologise for having missed part of the debate but perhaps I may refer to Amendment No. 198, which proposes:"““This section excludes the maintenance of structures already in situ””." I regard this amendment as absolutely essential because I can think of a number of structures that are already in situ on common land. For example, there are pens on common land where sheep can be brought in and made ready for transport to the home farm or possibly to be sent away for grazing. Some commons that I can think of also have loading bay facilities to facilitate transport in order to carry out matters entirely consistent with the welfare and good management of a ewe flock. I believe it is a given that such structures exist on most commons and they clearly need to be maintained from time to time, not least for health and safety reasons.