Last updated at 17:01, Thursday, 31 January 2013

CHANGES to farmland mistakenly labelled as common land will not come into force before 2015.

Tim Farron, MP for Westmorland and Lonsdale, has lobbied the government to change the rules on common land, which resulted in the passing of the Commons Act 2006.

However, Defra minister Richard Benyon has now said in a ministerial reply, to concerns raised by Mr Farron, that the rules will not be changed until 2015 at the earliest.

Mr Farron said: “Saying the government has other priorities is not good enough for farmers in the Lake District who are affected by the current complex mess of legislation. Many are struggling with the current two-tier system and asking them to wait at least another two years for changes to be made is unacceptable.

“I will keep lobbying the government and pressing them to implement the rule changes, which are not controversial, sooner.”

First published at 16:46, Thursday, 31 January 2013
Published by http://www.nwemail.co.uk