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Planning Bill

moved Amendment No. 13: 13: After Clause 138, insert the following new Clause— ““Common land and rights of common (1) An order granting development consent may not include provision the effect of which is to exclude or modify the application of a provision of or made under the Commons Act 2006, except in accordance with section 131 or 132. (2) For the purposes of section 38(6)(a) of the Commons Act 2006, works carried out under a power conferred by an order granting development consent are not to be taken to be carried out under a power conferred by or under an enactment, except in a case to which section 131 or 132 applies. (3) An order granting development consent may not authorise the suspension of, or extinguishment or interference with, registered rights of common, except in accordance with section 131 or 132. (4) ““Registered rights of common”” means rights of common registered under— (a) the Commons Act 2006, or (b) the Commons Registration Act 1965.”” The noble Baroness said: My Lords, I shall speak also to government Amendment No. 30. These amendments result from the issue raised by the noble Lord, Lord Greaves, on common land. We had short debates in Committee and on Report, and I hope that our amendment answers the point raised by the noble Lord, Lord Greaves, and others. As I mentioned on Report, we share certain core principles about how land registered as a common should continue to benefit from the protections of the Commons Act 2006, and this has two aspects. First, we continue to believe that a promoter should not be able to conduct development works on common land without consent. Secondly, where development of a nationally significant infrastructure project does take place on a common, that land should be deregistered as a common and replacement common land should generally be provided. Our amendments ensure that these points are covered. Subsection (2) of the new clause confirms that consent will still be needed under Section 38 of the Commons Act where development consent orders grant authority for works on common land, except where the order authorises compulsory purchase under Clauses 131 and 132 of this Bill. If a promoter already owns the common land in question and does not wish to seek consent under Section 38 of the Commons Act, he will have to apply for deregistration of the land as common land under Sections 14 and 16 of the Commons Act, in which case the requirement to provide replacement land will still usually apply. Subsections (1) and (3) confirm that no development consent order could override these principles unless that order authorises the compulsory acquisition of the common land in question, again under Clauses 131 and 132. The reason for this exception is that the procedure set out in these two clauses will generally require the replacement of the common land. In the case of compulsory acquisition, the development consent order will trigger deregistration automatically because it would be considered a relevant instrument for the purposes of Section 14(3)(c) of the Commons Act. Government Amendment No. 30 is a consequential amendment to the extent clause so that the extent of the new clause on commons covers England and Wales only. I hope that the noble Lord will be reassured that the points he raised in earlier debates are good ones, and that I always enjoy agreeing with him. It is right to ensure that no loophole exists in the Bill to allow promoters to skirt around the protections in place for the precious notion of common land. I beg to move.