English Law Commission Consultation Paper on Conservation Covenants

The English Law Commission has published a consultation paper on whether England and Wales should adopt conservation covenants:

"A conservation covenant is a voluntary agreement between a landowner and responsible body (charity, public body or local/central Government) to do or not do something on their land for a conservation purpose.  This might be, for example, an agreement to maintain a woodland and allow public access to it, or to refrain from using certain pesticides on native vegetation.  These agreements are long lasting and continue after the landowner has parted with the land, ensuring that its conservation value is protected for the public benefit."

"Conservation covenants are used in many other jurisdictions, but do not exist in the law of England and Wales (...)"

"In the paper, we consider the following key issues:

• Who should be able to create a conservation covenant?
• What should a conservation covenants be for?
• Should there be public oversight of a new statutory scheme?
• How should conservation covenants be created and recorded?
• How should a conservation covenant be managed?
• What should happen if there is a breach of a conservation covenant?
• When and how should a conservation covenant be modified or come to an end?
• Could any existing statutory covenants be replaced by a system of conservation covenants?
• What will be the impact of introducing a system of conservation covenants?"

The paper looks at the legal situation in a number of jurisdictions, including Scotland, Canada, the United States, Australia and New Zealand.