The Law of Allotments and Allotment Gardens (England and Wales)

E. Lawrence Mitchell

Description

A handy guide for any allotment owner on the laws, rules and regulations that govern all allotments.

Sujets

• Jardinage
• Techniques de jardinage
• Potager
• Kitchen garden
• Gardening
• Vegetables

Informations

• Publié par: Read Books Ltd.
• Date de parution: 31 mai 2013
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781473386976
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 1 Mo

Extrait

THE
LAW OF ALLOTMENTS
AND ALLOTMENT GARDENS
(ENGLAND AND WALES)
With Rules and Regulations of the Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries, together with the Provisions, so far as they relate to Allotments and Allotment Gardens, of the Small Holdings and Allotments Act, 1908, the Land Settlement (Facilities) Act, 1919, the Acquisition of Land (Assessment of Compensation) Act, 1919, the Agriculture Act, 1920, and the Allotments Act, 1922
BY
E. LAWRENCE MITCHELL
Principal, Small Holdings and Allotments Branch of the Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries.
CONTENTS.

I NTRODUCTION
I
D EFINITION OF A LLOTMENT , A LLOTMENT G ARDEN, ETC .
II
A LLOTMENTS PROVIDED UNDER THE A LLOTMENTS A CTS , 1908 TO 1922
III
A CQUISITION OF L AND BY A LLOTMENT A UTHORITIES
IV
F INANCE OF A LLOTMENT A UTHORITIES
V
T ENURE OF A LLOTMENTS AND A LLOTMENT G ARDENS
VI
C OMPENSATION PAYABLE ON D ETERMINATION OF T ENANCIES
VII
R ATING OF A LLOTMENTS
VIII
G ENERAL
A PPENDIX .
1
The Small Holdings and Allotments Act, 1908
2
The Land Settlement (Facilities) Act, 1919
3
The Allotments Act, 1922
4
The Acquisition of Land (Assessment of Compensation) Act, 1919
5
The Agriculture Act, 1920
6
The Small Holdings and Allotments (Compulsory Purchase) Regulations, 1922
7
The Small Holdings and Allotments (Compulsory Hiring) Regulations, 1922
8
Model Rules as to Allotment Gardens
9
Model Rules to be adopted by Co-operative Associations
10
Schedule of terms allowed by Ministry of Health for repayment of Loans for adaptation of Allotments
INTRODUCTION.
Until the passing of the Allotments Act, 1922, which received the Royal Assent on the 4th August of that year, the Acts appertaining to allotments had dealt almost entirely with the provision of allotments by local authorities and the compensation payable to tenants of allotments on the determination of their tenancies. The Act of 1922 contains provisions, however, restricting the power of landlords, who have let land for cultivation as allotment gardens, to terminate the tenancies which they have created and also entrusts to local authorities similar powers of entry on land which were obtained by the Board of Agriculture and Fisheries under the Defence of the Realm Regulations during the war. When it is realized that according to the latest official returns available (31st December, 1920) there were 1,330,000 allotment holders in England and Wales, of which approximately 500,000 were tenants of private owners, it will be seen that the Act of 1922 affects the rights of a large number of landowners, and has a much wider application than had previous allotment legislation. The growth of, and the demand for allotments in the vicinity of the cities and towns has made the question of the provision of land for the purpose one of vital importance to urban landowners, especially as their control over their property is to some extent restricted. The Act of 1922 is based apparently on the contention that this interference with private interests is justified by the national importance of providing garden plots for the dwellers in urban districts, and it is obvious that a knowledge of the statutes governing the tenure of land let as allotments or allotment gardens is necessary to the management of urban property which is awaiting development for building, etc.
The object of this textbook is to set out concisely the duties and powers of local authorities with regard to the provision of allotments and allotment gardens under the Allotments Acts, 1908 to 1922, and to explain the statutory provisions governing the tenure of allotments and allotment gardens generally and the rights of tenants to compensation on dispossession. The Acts dealing mainly with the matter are:-

(1) The Small Holdings and Allotments Act, 1908, referred to throughout as the Act of 1908.
(2) The Land Settlement (Facilities) Act, 1919, referred to as the Act of 1919.
(3) The Allotments Act, 1922, referred to as the Act of 1922.
The provisions of the Acts of 1908 and 1919 which relate to allotments and the provisions of the Act of 1922 are to be cited together as the Allotments Acts, 1908 to 1922, and are referred to in this textbook as the Acts.
A large number of allotments were provided during the war by local authorities acting as agents to the Board (now the Minister) of Agriculture and Fisheries in the exercise of powers contained in Regulations 2L and 2M of the Defence of the Realm Regulations. The Minister has, however, announced his decision to withdraw from possession of all such allotments not later than the 25th March, 1923, and these allotments will therefore cease to exist as such very shortly, although the local authorities have power to re-acquire such land under the Allotments Acts. For the sake of convenience it has not, therefore, been thought necessary to refer in detail to the powers under which these allotments were provided, or to the powers given under the various Public Inclosure Acts which required, in certain cases upon inclosures, the appropriation of allotments for the labouring poor, as these latter powers are only of very limited application.
Allotments and allotment gardens may be divided into two main classes:-

( a ) Those provided by local authorities acting under the powers contained in the Allotments Acts, 1908 to 1922;
( b ) Those provided by statutory companies and private landowners and let direct to individuals or allotment associations without any intervention on the part of a local authority.
As will be explained later, however, the provisions of the Acts differ considerably in their application to allotments and allotment gardens respectively, but where the context permits, the term allotment whenever used in this textbook includes an allotment garden .
The powers previously conferred on the Board of Agriculture and Fisheries are now vested in the Minister of Agriculture and Fisheries, who is legally the successor to the Board, but to avoid the personal note which is not practically applicable the term the Ministry is used throughout this textbook as referring to the Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries.
THE LAW OF ALLOTMENTS.

CHAPTER I.
DEFINITION OF ALLOTMENT AND ALLOTMENT GARDEN, ETC.
Until the Act of 1922 was passed the expressions allotment and allotment garden were not defined in specific terms in any of the previous Acts except that the word allotment included a field garden (section 61 of the Act of 1908). The term allotment garden was used for the first time in section 11 of the Agriculture Act, 1920, but it was not defined in that Act, an apparent omission which has since been remedied by the Act of 1922.
Section 3 of the Act of 1922 contains provisions as to compensation payable to tenants of allotments, and re-enacts with modifications as to the determination and recovery of compensation, the provisions of the Allotments and Cottage Gardens (Compensation for Crops) Act, 1887, which is repealed by the Act of 1922. Section 3 defines an allotment for the purpose of that section as any parcel of land whether attached to a cottage or not of not more than two acres in extent held by a tenant under a landlord and cultivated as a farm or a garden or partly as a garden and partly as a farm. Under section 27 (3) of the Act of 1908, however, a local allotments authority may let an allotment not exceeding 5 acres and section 47 (3) of the same Act puts the tenant of such an allotment up to 5 acres in the same position as regards compensation as a tenant of an allotment not exceeding 2 acres.
To sum up, an allotment can therefore be defined as any parcel of land whether attached to a cottage or not of not more than 2 acres in extent or, if provided by a local authority under the Allotments Acts, of not more than 5 acres in extent, held by a tenant under a landlord and cultivated as a farm or a garden or partly as a garden and partly as a farm.
An allotment garden is defined in section 22 of the Act of 1922 as meaning an allotment not exceeding 40 poles in extent which is wholly or mainly cultivated by the occupier for the production of vegetables or fruit crops for consumption by himself or his family. From the wording of section 3 (1) of the Act of 1922, it is clear that the expression allotment garden does not, for all practical purposes, include any parcel of land attached to a cottage.
The distinction between an allotment and an allotment garden is most important, as the provisions of the Act of 1922 which altered the existing law as to determination of tenancies (section 1) and compensation on quitting (section 2) apply only to allotment gardens and not to allotments which are not allotment gardens.
Throughout the Acts the expression landlord means in relation to any land the person for the time being entitled to receive the rents and profits of the land, and the expression borough in the Act of 1922 includes a metropolitan borough.
CHAPTER II.
ALLOTMENTS PROVIDED UNDER THE ALLOTMENTS ACTS, 1908 TO 1922.
Allotment Authorities .-The local authorities responsible for the provision of allotments are as follows:-
In London the London County Council (section 36 of the Act of 1908 and section 22 (5) of the Act of 1922) and the Metropolitan Borough Councils (section 24 of the Act of 1919).
In urban districts the borough councils (including the councils of county boroughs) and the urban district councils (section 23 of the Act of 1908).
In rural areas the parish council (section 23 of the Act of 1908) or the parish meeting where there is no parish council (section 61 (4) of the Act of 1908).
Statutory obligation of Allotment Authorities .-The London County Council and the council of a borough or urban district having a population of ten thousand or upwards according to the published returns of the last census for the time being are under a statutory obligation to provide allotment gardens not exceed