Legislative Scrutiny: Children, Schools and Families Bill; other Bills - Human Rights Joint Committee Contents


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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