§ Mr. Simon ThomasTo ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what provisions are in place to enable mistakes following the initial registration of common land to be rectified. [168651]
§ Alun MichaelThe provisions of the Commons Registration Act 1965, and subsequent regulations which set out the detailed registration procedures, make only very limited provision for an amendment to the registers to be made to resolve minor clerical errors or omissions. Additionally, in certain cases, errors may be rectified by the High Court. The Common Land Policy Statement, published in July 2002, contains an outline proposal to make further provision in new legislation for the correction of errors. It is also intended that the scope of this provision will be wider than before. Although we hope to bring forward measures as soon as Parliamentary time permits, I can give no guarantee at this stage either about the timing of legislation, or its scope.