COMMONERS' rights on Warcop common have been " compulsorily extinguished" by order of Geoff Hoon, Secretary of Sate for Defence, who has rubber stamped a decision made earlier this year that training infantry soldiers outweighed concerns about noise and public access.

Mr Hoon accepted two undertakings to limit noise from night-firing and added one amendment requiring the MoD to provide a freephone public access number.