The Times of Tuesday draws attention to a very serious
blot on the Local Government Bill. That measure misses an excellent opportunity for protecting commons and open spaces, since it gives neither the Parish nor the District Councils any power to intervene for their preservation, and merely allows them to resist encroachments on road-side wastes. The writer of the Times' article suggests that the Parish and District Councils should be able to do what Urban Sanitary Authorities can already do,—that is, purchase and hold " any saleable rights of common or any tenement of a commoner having annexed thereto rights of common." In other words, if the suggested powers were given to the new Local Authorities they would, in many oases, be able to put themselves into a position which would prevent enclosure for good and all. At present, if a lord can buy up all the rights of common over the wastes of his manor, that waste ceases to be a common and can be enclosed. The proposed amendment to Mr. Fowler's Bill would often enable the Council of a parish or district to step into the gap and prevent a grave catastrophe.
Previous page
