Growth and Infrastructure Bill

Baroness Byford Excerpts

Tuesday 12th March 2013 Lords Chamber

Moved by

[Baroness Byford]

40A: After Clause 12, insert the following new Clause—
“Registration of town or village green: reduction of period under section 15(3)(c)
(1) Section 15 of the Commons Act 2006 (registration of greens) is amended as follows.
(2) In subsection (3), in paragraph (c), for the words from “the period” to the end of the paragraph substitute “the relevant period”.
(3) After that subsection insert—
“(3A) In subsection (3), “the relevant period” means—
(a) in the case of an application relating to land in England, the period of one year beginning with the cessation mentioned in subsection (3)(b);(b) in the case of an application relating to land in Wales, the period of two years beginning with that cessation.””

[Baroness Byford]

My Lords, I shall speak also to Amendment 40D standing in my name. I apologise for my voice, which is going. Amendment 40A introduces a new clause which amends the Commons Act 2006, reducing the time period from two years to one in cases where the application relates to land in England—that is, in proposed new subsection (3A)(a)—and, in relation to land in Wales, proposed new subsection (3A)(b) specifies,

“the period of two years beginning with that cessation”.

I remind the House that I am a member of the CLA. In its briefing, it considers that the two years proposed for England is too long a period. The briefing states that where people have genuine concerns—which I am sure they do,

“that they are being denied access to a site which they genuinely believe they are entitled to have registered as a village green or the basis on which they are accessing it has been changed, it need not take more than one year for the community to be galvanised into action, hold a local meeting, gather their evidence and make an application for a claim. A year is really quite a generous period of time”.

The briefing goes on to say:

“The proposal for the new map and statement procedure (clause 13) is going to involve wide publication of such a deposit including notification to parish councils and notification by email to any party having requested the registration authority to inform them of the deposit of such statements. So notification will to all intents be instantaneous”.

In Committee on 30 January this year, the Minister offered reassurance that,

“where a landowner statement is deposited with a commons registration authority, the authority will be required to publicise it”.—[Official Report, 30/1/13; col. 1602.]

My understanding is also that anyone interested in the notification can, if they give their e-mail details, have this information sent to them as soon as the declaration has been registered by the registration authority, with parish councils being notified in the same way. That being so, my amendment reduces the time limit from two years to one.

One difficulty is that if a landlord tries to sell some land to which there has been some element of public access for a period, the purchaser’s solicitors will be filled with trepidation about a potential claim coming for village green status. Generally they will insist on the use being stopped or made permissive, and on waiting two years to see whether a challenge is made before completing the purchase. This is unnecessary in the context of today’s modern communications. With further apologies for my voice, I beg to move.

[Lord McKenzie of Luton]

My Lords, briefly, we cannot support the amendment moved by the noble Baroness. It is a restriction on the registration of town and village greens, and we think that the balance is already moved in a restrictive direction by this Bill.

[Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon]

My Lords, I thank my noble friend for tabling the amendment and particularly for taking the time, despite her straining voice, to articulate the reasons behind it. I had hoped that the noble Lord, Lord McKenzie, on the Benches opposite might have shown some sensitivity in accepting her amendment. It now falls to me to reiterate the Government’s position.

The purpose of the amendment tabled by my noble friend is to reduce from two years to one year the “period of grace” within which a town or village green application can be made after the requisite 20 years of recreational use as of right has ceased. Currently Section 15(3) of the Commons Act 2006 allows a two-year period during which a greens application can be made after the end of a 20-year period of recreational use as of right. After such use has been challenged, it takes time for the local community to recognise that challenge and, if it wishes, to put together the information necessary to make an application. The key steps would be to seek out evidence in support of the application, to identify witnesses, to gather testimony and to collate and prepare evidence for submission.

My noble friend made important points about the impact of the current legislation on landowners. Her concerns are valid, and I agree that a period of a year is sufficient for users of land to gather the necessary information to make a greens application. A period of a year provides a better balance between the rights of landowners and those of recreational users of land. Therefore, I accept the amendment and I urge all noble Lords to support it.

The Government think that it is fair that those grace periods which have already started to run before commencement of the new clause should remain at two years, and we intend to include transitional savings provisions to this effect in the relevant commencement order.

[Baroness Byford]

My Lords, I thank my noble friend on the Front Bench. Clearly I am disappointed that the noble Lord, Lord McKenzie, did not feel able to support the amendment, but I am very grateful for the Minister’s support.

Amendment 40A agreed.

--- Later in debate ---

Moved by

[Baroness Byford]

40D: Clause 14, page 17, line 21, leave out “of two years”