Commentary on Sections Commons Act 1899 Section 50 Schemes under the Commons Act 1899
222.Part 1 of the Commons Act 1899 enables a district council(46) or a National Park authority(47) to make a scheme for the regulation and management of a common(48) in its area. A scheme must be made substantially in the form prescribed by the Secretary of State or National Assembly for Wales(49). A scheme, once made, vests the manage­ment of the common in the authority. Under section 2 of the 1899 Act, a draft scheme made in accordance with that section may be approved by the authority unless either the owner of the common or one-third in value of those having interests in the common object.
223.Section 50 amends Part I of the 1899 Act so as to update and broaden the purpose for which a scheme may be made (subsection (2)), to confer additional powers in prescribing model schemes (subsections (4) and (5)), to enable regulations to clarify the circumstances in which a scheme may be amended or revoked (subsection (6)), and to update the power conferred on the authority to make byelaws in relation to a scheme (subsection (7)).