Overview Part 2: Management
29.Part 2 enables the appropriate national authority to establish commons councils with functions related to the management of agricultural activities, vegetation and the exercise of rights of common on common land (or on town or village greens where rights of common exist over such land).
30.There has been a lack of effective mechanisms for managing agricultural activity, in particular grazing, on common land. This resulted in poor management of agricultural activity on many commons leading to deterioration of the resource base and, in some cases, to severe over-grazing and consequent damage to the soil and vegetation. This was exacerbated in the past by production subsidies under the Common Agricultural Policy, which increased over-grazing pressures. Over-grazing is undesirable from a nature conservation perspective, affecting the Government’s ability to meet its international obligations (e.g. under the European Habitats Directive) and its national objectives (e.g. improving the condition of SSSIs).
31.Previously, the establishment of a body with powers to manage and regulate common land has required an Act of Parliament. In the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, a number of boards of conservators were established by provisional order confirmed by Acts made under the Commons Act 1876(19) or by local Act(20). More recently, the Dartmoor Commoners’ Council was established by the Dartmoor Commons Act 1985, and the Greenham and Crookham Common Commission by the Greenham and Crookham Commons Act 2002.
32.Part 2 of the Act will enable the appropriate national authority to establish commons councils without the requirement for primary legislation. By establishing commons councils, commoners, owners of common land and other interests will be able to work together to manage agricultural activities and the vegetation to meet the varied demands made on common land across the country. Commons councils will also be able to enter into agri-environment agreements — that is, government-funded schemes under which farmers sign long-term agreements to manage the land in particular ways in order to protect, enhance or restore biodiversity and particular features of the landscape, or to protect the environment (e.g. through decreased use of agricultural chemicals) in return for annual payments which help to offset the additional costs of changed farming practices. They will also be able to secure compliance with the conditions of such agreements through their rule-making function. This enables a commons council to make legally binding rules on all those using a common for agricultural purposes, which may be enforced through the courts where non-compliance occurs.
33.Part 2 also provides power for the appropriate national authority to modify or remove existing statutory schemes of management where they might conflict with functions given to a new commons council. This enables a commons council to be established where there are existing management bodies that no longer operate effectively, or where there are bodies that may wish to take advantage of the range of functions which can be given to councils.