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Commons Bill [HL]

My Lords, I do not suppose that I am only the person to have had a briefing from the RSPB about the registration dates and transitional periods. There are questions to which it would be helpful to have answers from the Minister. The RSPB’s concern is that, unless there are cut-off dates by which the registers can be brought up to date, it will not be possible to initiate the formation of statutory commons associations, so commoners will continue to find it difficult to access agri-environment payments. That was an issue that I had not understood or heard discussed previously, and it would be useful for the Minister to indicate whether that is the case. When we discussed it previously, I was not of the opinion that setting up commons associations could not proceed fairly quickly from the passing of the Bill, and that it had to wait until the transition period of updating the registers was completed. The RSPB is under the impression that that would be the case, which would put a new complexion on the way in which the Bill is brought into operation. It would be helpful if the Minister could tell us that the RSPB is wrong; if it is not, we have some more work to do.