5 Common land
65. Common land is a piece of land in private ownership,
where other people have certain traditional rights to use it in
specified ways, such as being allowed to graze their livestock.
There are 7,000 commons in England covering nearly 400,000 hectares,
the majority in North Yorkshire and Cumbria. The Commission has
yet to publish the rules for claiming direct payments on common
land under the new CAP deal and the Government has resisted reaching
a view until greater clarity has been provided.[92]
The RPA confirmed to us that it had begun mapping all of the common
land on the basis that they expect it to be one of the foundations
for the allocation of funds in the future.[93]
66. We have heard that the needs of common land and
individuals exercising commoners' rights were not given sufficient
attention under the current CAP.[94]
The NFU told us that the implementation of the current Single
Payment Scheme in relation to common land had caused significant
problems for some farmers in the hills and uplands:
Some were not allocated the correct amount of entitlements
for the common, others were told they could not claim at all and,
on some commons, areas have gone 'unclaimed' because rights recorded
on the common land register do not sit with active graziers. All
of this means that farmers actively involved in the management
and grazing of upland commons may not currently receive their
fair share of the SPS.[
95]
67. When common land was considered in 2005 it was
assumed that everyone who had a registered right would make a
claim. However, many rights were not in fact claimed. Consequently
large areas of common land did not attract the share of money
that was intended for them. To address this, the Open Spaces Society
argue for the implementation of Part I of the Commons Act 2006:
Part 1 of this Act secures the updating and maintenance
of the common-land registers consisting of maps and registers
of the ownership of the land and the rights over it. The registers
were drawn up in the early 1970s and are inaccurate and out of
date; they were produced in a very short period and contain many
errors. Part 1 allows a limited reopening of the registers, to
correct errors and enable the public to apply for inclusion of
certain land which was wrongly omitted.[96]
The results of Defra's Red Tape Challenge on the
themes of Biodiversity, Wildlife Management, Landscape, Countryside
and Recreation contain a commitment to fully commence Part 1 of
the 2006 Act throughout England. However, Defra state that implementation
is unlikely to happen within the life of the present Parliament,
due to a combination of a lack of resources and other priorities.[97]
68. The Tenant Farmers Association caution against
"slavish adherence to common land registers ... they will
not record the use by tenant farmers of rights provided to them
by their landlords through contracts of tenancy."[98]
The Farming Regulation Task Force also considered the problem
of common land and concluded that there should be a single payment
made to the appropriate Commoners Association (or equivalent):
The Association (or equivalent) should be responsible
for identifying the active claimants, notifying the RPA and dividing
the payment appropriately on the basis of those who are actively
farming the common. We are aware that commoners, by definition,
do not own the land they are grazing, but we understand that this
approach is already used in the administration of agri-environment
schemes for commoners. In line with our view that only those managing
land should receive SPS (paragraph 7.21), and those actively farming
the land are the graziers, we do not believe this arrangement
should require landowner consent.[
99]
69. One problem with the approach advocated by the
Farming Regulation Task Force is that Commoners Associations do
not hold entitlement, something that Richard Macdonald was clear
should be changed.[100]
Both George Winn-Darley and the NFU agreed that entitlements were
a problem and that there should be the ability to claim them without
having to buy them from the marketplace.[101]
70. The Government
must update the commons registers or implement Part I of the Commons
Act 2006 to ensure accurate registers of common land are available
for the purposes of mapping and payment. We acknowledge the benefit
in the RPA mapping common land ahead of the implementation of
the new deal but we are concerned that it may be doing so based
on registers known to be inaccurate. In response to this report
we expect the RPA to set out how it will deal with this potential
problem.
71. We support
the recommendation of the Farming Regulation Task Force that a
single payment should be made to the appropriate Commoners Association
for them to divide appropriately among those who are actively
farming the common, and this need not exclude the landowner. The
Government should consider ways in which the future national reserve
can be used to allocate payment entitlements to Commoners Associations
to enable them to do this. Such an approach should not require
landowner consent. Whatever approach the Government chooses it
must make sure that tenants using rights provided to them by the
landlord are included alongside those with rights in perpetuity.
72. The rules setting out the Commission's approach
to common land have yet to be published but we would be concerned
if they were too prescriptive. We commented earlier on the problems
that might result if the minimum activity test included a minimum
stocking density and a similar point can be made about common
land. James Bailey from the Federation of Yorkshire Commoners
and Moorland Graziers told us, "If it gets too prescriptive
in saying that, 'You must only get paid for every beast that is
on the common and never shall you be paid when it leaves the common,'
it will stop farmers from producing in an efficient fashion."[102]
The Government has stated that it will engage with stakeholders
once the Commission has provided more clarity—it was reassuring
to hear that the RPA had already begun this process, as Mark Grimshaw,
its Chief Executive, explained: "What we are doing as an
agency is engaging with as many of the common land associations
as we possibly can to try to determine the most appropriate way
to operate common land right in the future."[103]
The Government must ensure
the rules for common land are not designed in a way that would
reduce a farmer's ability to farm in an environmentally sustainable
way.
Dispute
73. Problems with the way common land is treated
under the CAP are not restricted to Pillar I payments. The disadvantages
of dual use we described in the previous chapter also apply to
common land. James Bailey told us there was a wide variation in
the apportionment of agri-environment schemes and monies on common
land in England: in Cumbria 95% of the money goes to the grazing,
in Durham 50% goes to the grazing and 50% to the landowner.[104]
George Winn-Darley explained that in applying for entry into a
scheme:
we need to look at what the scheme is demanding and
who is responsible for delivering those multiple aspects. It is
then up to the parties to then negotiate together and agree a
basis on which they can all sign up to the agreement and be responsible
for delivering their part of the bargain.[
105]
In the majority of cases such a partnership approach
works well, but Mr Bailey considered that Natural England, who
are responsible for agri-environment schemes, "have not been
prepared to get involved to ensure that the money goes into the
hands of the person doing the prescribed job."[106]
Before an agri-environment
scheme agreement is signed Natural England must ensure that those
affected by the agreement either by undertaking work or through
income foregone receive appropriate payment. Such steps should
include advice to both parties. The inspection process should
be used to ensure that the payment is going to the right person.
Where there is dispute, graziers should have recourse to a similar
dispute resolution mechanism as that proposed for tenants.
92 Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs,
Implementation of CAP Reform in England Consultation Document,
October 2013 Back
93
Q 144 Back
94
Ev 70 [Country Land and Business Association] Back
95
Ev 82 [NFU] Back
96
Ev w20 [Open Spaces Society] Back
97
See https://www.gov.uk/common-land-management-protection-and-registering-to-use Back
98
Ev 101 [Tenant Farmers Association] Back
99
The report of the independent farming regulation task force, May
2011 Back
100
Q 355 Back
101
Q285; Ev 82 [NFU] Back
102
Q 260 Back
103
Q 146 Back
104
Q 250 Back
105
Ev 109 [George Winn-Darley] Back
106
Q 250 Back
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