Environment, Food and Rural Affairs CommitteeWritten evidence submitted by the Open Spaces Society
Summary
The Open Spaces Society calls for urgent implementation of part 1 of the Commons Act 2006 throughout England, or failing that in the upland counties of Cumbria and North Yorkshire as the start of a roll-out, to ensure that the base maps for CAP payments are accurate and up to date and the multi-benefits of common land can be fully secured.
Payments under the greening measures should be for permanent public access, not temporary, permissive access, in order to secure maximum public benefit.
1. The Open Spaces Society is Britain’s oldest national conservation body, founded in 1865. We campaign for the protection and management of common land, town and village greens, open spaces and public paths, in town and country, throughout England and Wales. We have over 2,000 members consisting of individuals, organisations and local councils. We are a registered charity. I have been the general secretary of the society since 1984.
What steps the government might take in implementing CAP to help tenant farmers and farmers in upland areas, and to take account of issues pertaining to common land
2. There is a relatively simple answer to the question of what government might do in relation to common land, and that is urgently to implement legislation which has been on the statute book for seven years, part 1 of the Commons Act 2006. This legislation has cross-party and cross-sector support.
3. 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 The registers were drawn up in the early 1970s and are inaccurate and out of date; they were produced in a very short period and contain many errors.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.
4. Yet in the intervening years since 2006, part 1 of the Act has only been implemented in seven pioneer areas in England. We submit that government should implement it urgently, giving certainty about land and rights. Otherwise, the maps which are digitized to provide the basis for payments under the new CAP round will be inaccurate from the start, leading to significant additional cost and confusion when they have to be corrected and updated.
5. If government cannot implement the Act fully throughout England at one time, we ask that it starts with the counties of Cumbria and North Yorkshire (which contain over 50% of the country’s common land) as the first stage of a roll-out with a clear timetable.
6. We ask the committee to probe Defra ministers and officials about the implementation of legislation which has been on the statute book for seven years.
How should the government ensure that CAP delivers the best environmental benefits while supporting food production
7. We submit that “greening” funds should be used to create permanent public access where it is of public benefit, rather than temporary, permissive access as has occurred in the past. Until 2010, there were payments for access for higher-level stewardship schemes, then the government cut these because of tight finances. The effect has been the erection of signs in the countryside saying that permissive access is now withdrawn, with blocked stiles and locked gates where previously they were open and accessible. This creates public uncertainty and disappointment and is of questionable public value.
8. If CAP payments could secure permanent public access, there would be real and lasting benefit. The paths and access land thus procured could be shown on Ordnance Survey maps so that people would know where they could go. Natural England’s recent Paths For Communities scheme, funded by CAP for permanent new access, is an excellent example of what can, and should be achieved.
9 October 2013