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'(3A) A notice under subsection (3) must contain particulars of the right of appeal conferred by section 36.'.
Mr. Deputy Speaker: With this it will be convenient to discuss Government amendments Nos. 179, 181 and 183.
Mr. Meacher: In Committee, the Government undertook to return to the House with amendments such as these. Amendments Nos. 173 and 181 will require that an access authority should, in serving a notice of intention to erect or maintain a means of access where it has not been possible to reach an agreement with the owner or occupier, include on the notice information about the right of appeal. Similar legislation such as that covering notices under planning law includes such provision, and the amendments will bring the Bill into line with that legislation.
Amendment No. 179 aims to clarify the procedure with which access authorities should comply before serving a notice of intention to carry out works on a means of access under clause 35. We intend that, before serving such a notice, the authority should have made efforts to enter into an agreement with the owner or occupier of the land to carry out similar works. The amendment provides that the access authority may serve such a notice if it is satisfied that it is unable to conclude the agreement on reasonable terms. We had quite a significant discussion about that in Committee.
The amendment enables access authorities to prevent negotiations from dragging on indefinitely by determining that they are unable to conclude the agreement on reasonable terms. They will then be able to serve notice of intention to carry out works. The cost of such works will fall entirely on the access authority. The owner or occupier has a right of appeal against the works on grounds that the works are not necessary, that the means of access should be provided elsewhere, or that the works have already been carried out.
Chapter III includes adequate provision for appeal against any notice served, but it is important that authorities are not prevented from taking action to secure means of access to access land by becoming locked in endless fruitless negotiations to secure an agreement. Where they are satisfied that they cannot reach an agreement on reasonable terms, they should be able to move on and to serve notice where needed.
Amendment No. 183 relates to the criteria that must be met for an access authority to be able to seek a magistrates order to remove an obstruction of a means of access. Broadly speaking, the criteria are that the authority must in the past three years have served at least two notices--under clauses 34 or 35--relating to that means of access. That is qualified by the requirement that the notices should not have any appeal pending in respect of them, or have been cancelled on appeal. The amendment adds the requirement that the period of notice given for compliance with both notices must have expired.
We gave a commitment to consider an amendment along those lines in Committee. Although we think it unlikely that an access authority could obtain a
magistrates order before the notice period had expired, we agree that such an occurrence would be undesirable. That is what lies behind the amendment. I hope that the House will agree that the clause should be amended accordingly.
Mr. Green: I thank the Minister for the concessions inherent in the group of amendments. As he said, we had a long, detailed and sporadically passionate debate in Committee about whether being reasonable meant appearing reasonable to the access authority itself, or being reasonable in some wider and more objective sense. I am happy to say that the formulation that the Government have come up with is much better and fairer than that in the original draft of the Bill.
I am also glad that the Minister has taken on board the points that we made about the appeal and enforcement processes. I also welcome his confirmation that the access authority will be responsible for the works carried out, if necessary, under that particular process. The amendments significantly improve on the original draft of the Bill and we are happy to support them.
Amendments made: No. 174, in page 19, line 35, leave out "carries" and insert "carry".
No. 175, in page 19, line 37, leave out "it" and insert "them".
No. 176, in page 19, line 37, leave out "its" and insert "their".
No. 177, in page 19, line 41, leave out "carries" and insert "carry".
No. 178, in page 19, line 43, leave out "it" and insert "them".--[Mr. Meacher.]
Clause 35
Amendments made: No. 179, in page 20, line 10, leave out from "are" to end of line 11 and insert--
'satisfied that they are unable to conclude on reasonable terms an agreement under section 33 with the owner or occupier of the land for the carrying out of the works'.
No. 180, in page 20, line 14, leave out "intends" and insert "intend".
No. 181, in page 20, line 16, at end insert--
'(1A) A notice under subsection (1) must contain particulars of the right of appeal conferred by section 36.'.--[Mr. Meacher.]
Clause 36
Amendment made: No. 182, in page 21, line 14, leave out "its" and insert "their".--[Mr. Meacher.]
Clause 37
Amendment made: No. 183, in page 21, line 34, after " 35(1)" insert--
'in respect of which the period specified in the notice has expired'.--[Mr. Meacher.]
Clause 38
Amendments made: No. 184, in page 22, line 34, at end insert--
'( ) A person who is authorised by the Forestry Commissioners to do so may enter any land--
(a) for the purpose of determining whether any power conferred on the Forestry Commissioners by Chapter II should be exercised in relation to the land, or
(b) in connection with an appeal under any provision of this Part.'
No. 185, in page 22, line 47, leave out "dwelling-house" and insert "dwelling".--[Mr. Meacher.]
Clause 41
Amendments made: No. 186, in page 23, line 37, leave out--
'(as defined by section 22 of the Commons Registration Act 1965)'.
No. 187, in page 23, line 40, at end insert--
' "livestock" means cattle, sheep, goats, swine, horses or poultry, and for the purposes of this sub-paragraph "cattle" means bulls, cows, oxen, heifers or calves, "horses" include asses and mules, and "poultry" means domestic fowls, turkeys, geese or ducks;'.
No. 188, in page 24, line 12, at end insert--
'"rights of common" has the same meaning as in the Commons Registration Act 1965;'.--[Mr. Meacher.]
Clause 42
Amendment made: No. 189, in page 24, leave out lines 29 and 30 and insert--
'(b) sections 61 to 63 of the National Parks and Access to the Countryside Act 1949 (which relate to reviews of access requirements and the preparation of maps).
(1A) No access agreement or access order under Part V of the National Parks and Access to the Countryside Act 1949 (access to open country) may be made after the commencement of this section in relation to land which is open country or registered common land for the purposes of this Part.'.--[Mr. Meacher.]
Schedule 4
Amendments made: No. 211, in page 45, leave out lines 1 to 6.
No. 212, in page 45, line 14, at end insert--
. In section 2(6) of the Countryside Act 1968 (Countryside Agency and Countryside Council for Wales to make recommendations to public bodies in relation to byelaws) for "and the Act of 1949" there is substituted ", the Act of 1949 and Part I of the Countryside and Rights of Way Act 2000".'.--[Mr. Meacher.]
'.--(1) Any person with an interest in land who shows that he has suffered a loss in consequence of the exercise of the right of access conferred by section 2(1) of this Act, shall be entitled to compensation to make good such loss.
(2) A claim for compensation under this section shall be made within such time and in such manner as may be prescribed in regulations made by the Secretary of State.
(3) In this section "interest", in relation to land, includes any estate in land and any right over land, whether the right is exercisable by virtue of the ownership of an interest in land or by virtue of a licence or agreement, and in particular includes sporting rights.'.--[Mr. Garnier.]
Brought up, and read the First time.
Mr. Garnier: I beg to move, That the clause be read a Second time.
New clause 16 should be uncontroversial, as it is in line not only with legislation sponsored by both Labour and Conservative Governments, but with the common law. If it is accepted, it will allow the Secretary of State or the Minister to state with confidence that the Bill is compatible with the European convention on human rights and the Human Rights Act 1998. The Government have placed great store on statements under section 19 of that Act. Although the Act does not come into force until 2 October 2000, it is right that we should be told now whether the Government are confident that the Bill is to be covered by a statement under either section 19(1)(a) or 19(1)(b).
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