Letter to the Chair of the Committee from
the Country Land and Business Association, dated October 2009
We are writing with regard to the Human Rights
Committee's Report on the provisions of the Marine and Coastal
Access Bill.
In the report it was stated that the appeal
mechanism proposed by the government "would remove the incompatibility
with Article 6".
However, this mechanism does not extend
so far as to give the holder of a profit a prendre the
right of appeal.
The government accepts that this is what it
intended by its amendment.
The most commonly held profits in this context
of coastal access will be grazing rights, mineral rights and shooting
rights. As you will appreciate, it will often be the case that
the value of the profit will be considerably greater than the
value of the bare land. As such the profit holder potentially
has more at stake than does the landowner.
Moreover, profits are, of course, legal interests
and for most other purposes are treated in the same way as other
property. As such I would have assumed that the right to their
use is a civil right for the purposes of Art 6.
In the circumstances, could we ask, was it the
Committee's intention that the range of persons entitled to appeal
should be limited in the way the government wants?
Commons report stage of the Bill has not yet
been set but is likely to be late October.
Apologies if all this is a little presumptuous.
If it would be of use, we would be happy to come over to your
offices to discuss matters in more detail.
Richella Logan
Head of Public Affairs
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