Bill To Protect And Enhance Common Land Published
28/06/05

Common land in England and Wales would be better protected from development and the ancient rights of commoners safeguarded and enhanced under legislation published today.

The Commons Bill would protect commons from development, allow them to be managed more sustainably, improve protection from neglect and abuse, and modernise the registration of commons to ensure all commons enjoy the same protection.

Common land covers extensive areas of the North East, mainly in upland areas of Northumberland and County Durham, with some in Cleveland.

Rural Affairs Minister Jim Knight said the Bill aimed to update notoriously complicated and often archaic laws managing our commons by modernising the registration of commons and giving commoners the ability to make decisions locally.

"Our common land is an important part of our national heritage, with the roots of commoning set in the Dark Ages, well before Parliament passed the first Commons Act in 1235," he said.

"Common land is an integral part of both agricultural and cultural life in our rural communities, as well as containing some of our most precious landscapes and our rarest wildlife. Common land is vital to farming, particularly in upland areas, as well as being greatly valued for its heritage, the recreation it provides, and as a source of treasured green space.

"This Bill would protect our common land, now and for future generations, and produce real benefits in terms of sustainable farming, public access, and biodiversity."

In England, 3% of all land is common land, while common land covers around 8% of land in Wales. Although most commons are in National Parks, Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty, or are designated Sites of Special Scientific Interest, much of this land is at risk as a result of overgrazing, abuse, encroachment and unauthorised development.

Mr Knight said one of the Bill's most important provisions would stop the loss of common land through deregistration, which can occur if a landowner buys out the commoners' rights.

"Around two-thirds of commons could be at risk of deregistration, which means that land would lose its special protection and become vulnerable to development, threatening long-standing green spaces," he said.

"This Bill would give our common land continued protection by generally stopping commons from being deregistered, unless the landowner provided an equally good or better piece of land."

The Bill would also enable commoners to voluntarily form statutory Commons Associations, allowing them to manage their commons locally with the power to make decisions by majority. At present, all commoners must agree on a course of action and a single dissenter can obstruct the intentions of the majority.

Commons Associations would be flexible in the way they are set up and function, ensuring that they are best suited to the local circumstances. They would have powers to regulate grazing and other agricultural activities, while having regard to the public interest.

Mr Knight said the ability to form Commons Associations meant commoners would be able to manage the land more sustainably.

"This will also make it much easier for commoners to access funding through agri-environment schemes and other environmental programmes as well as protecting some of the most valuable parts of our landscape," he said.

The Bill would ban the "severance" of common rights, preventing commoners from selling, leasing or letting their rights away from the property to which rights are attached.

"Severance often means that common rights end up in the hands of farmers or graziers who do not live near the common, have no knowledge of the common itself, and disrupt the livestock management practices there," Mr Knight said.

"This makes it difficult to manage agriculture on commons sustainably, causes problems for local rights holders grazing on the common, and reduces the economic efficiency of grazing common land.

"We have responded to the requests of farming organisations for this ban, which would take effect from today, ensuring local control of grazing on the commons."

The Bill also aims to overhaul the outdated and flawed registration system for commons, enabling some commons originally missed off to be registered now, affording them continued protection and making them available for public access under the Countryside and Rights of Way Act 2000. It would also enable wrongly-registered land to be removed from the registers, subject to safeguards.

The Commons Bill would also streamline and modernise the system for obtaining consents to carry out works and fencing on commons.