Topic: statutory allotments

[tonybloke]

are these registered, and if so, with whom?
is the list available to the public?

[pumkinlover]

Good question, I assume the local councils have it on record? :-\

[BAK]

My understanding is

... that there is no register or list.

... statutory allotment status is automatically conferred on sites where the land contract states that the usage of the land is limited to allotments.

[Unwashed]

There's no list.  Actually there's not really any such thing as statutory allotments.

Some bits of the legislation apply to any kind of allotment, private or council.  So for example, the absolute right to keep rabbits and chickens under S.12 Allotments Act 1950 applies to any land, even your back garden.

Some bits of the legislation apply to any site, private or council, as long as the plot is an allotment garden - that is "an allotment not exceeding forty poles in extent which is wholly or mainly cultivated by the occupier for the production of vegetable or fruit crops for consumption by himself or his family".  So for example, the statutory minimum 12 months notice to quit applies to all allotment gardens, private or council.

Some bits of the legislation apply to any allotment let by a council under the allotments acts.  So for example, the restriction on demanding any more than a quarter rent in advance.  What I haven't yet found out is whether councils can let allotments under any power other than the allotments act 1908.

However, the thing about statutory sites is most often in the context of a council selling an allotment site.  The restriction here is under S.8 of the Allotments Act 1925 and if the council has purchased or appropriated the site specifically for allotments it has this statutory protection.

I've sometimes heard councils and allotmenteers discussing whether or not a council should give a site statutory status, and I'm not sure what this means.  If a particular bit of legislation applies then there's no opting out, and if it doesn't apply there's not much scope for opting in other than simply by including the particular provision in the tenancy agreement.

Why were you asking Tony?

[pumkinlover]

My understanding from the NSALG training was that Temporary sites were used on land for which there were long term plans, such as eventual building, but which were used as allotments until that time.
Statutory sites or more ocrrectly stautory status means the  allotment sites   could not be used for anything else unless the Secretary of state was consulted and agreed, and that by keeping a well run site with a waiting list, this was less likely to happen.

[tonybloke]

Hi Simon, Anne & BAK.

Some sites are designated as 'statutory allotments' and others aren't ? I was wondering
a) what's the difference?
b) is there a national register?
c) how does the Secretary of State know which is what? ( r.e. selling/disposing of allotments)

[Unwashed]

Some sites are designated as 'statutory allotments' and others aren't?

'statutory allotments' isn't really a meaningful designation, it's just a useful shorthand when you're talking about a council that wants to sell an allotment site.  The provision is S.8 of the Allotments Act 1925:

Sale, &c., of land used as allotments.
8. Where a local authority has purchased or appropriated land for use as allotments the local authority shall not sell, appropriate, use, or dispose of the land for any purpose other than use for allotments without the consent of the Minister of Agriculture and Fisheries and such consent may be given unconditionally or subject to such conditions as the Minister thinks fit, but shall not be given unless the Minister is satisfied that adequate provision will be made for allotment holders displaced by the action of the local authority or that such provision is unnecessary or not reasonably practicable.

So if a council sells an allotment site which it had previously bought specifically for allotments (a so-called "statutory allotment") to an allotments society then it doesn't need the permission of the minister.

But note that once the council has sold the site it no longer has any statutory protection, and so if the council hasn't placed some kind of covenant on the land there's nothing to stop the allotments society selling it for some other use.

So "statutory allotment" is useful shorthand for "an allotment site owned by a council that it bought or appropriated for use as allotments" but that's all.

a) what's the difference?
b) is there a national register?
c) how does the Secretary of State know which is what? ( r.e. selling/disposing of allotments)

a.  So the difference is that "statutory allotments" are sites owned by a council that the council bought or appropriated for use as allotments, and if the site isn't owned by a council, or is owned by a council but wasn't bought or appropriated specifically for allotments, then it's not a "statutory allotment" - bearing in mind that being a "statutory allotment" only restricts the council from doing something non-allotment on the site, it doesn't affect whether any of the other statutory provisions apply to the site.

b.  No.

c.  Well, it's up to the council to ask the minister for permission, so if the council doesn't choose to ask then the minister won't find out unless someone tells.  Assuming that the council isn't deliberately trying to avoid asking then they'll have to look back through their records and see how they came by the site, and specifically whether they acquired it as or for an allotment site.

[BAK]

tonybloke,

my understanding is that "statutory allotment" is merely a shorthand term which indicates that the contract for the land contains a clause which indicates that it can only only used for allotments.

This means that it attains statutory status at the point when the land was purchased. You cannot apply for statutory status after the sale.

There is no register or list of sites that have statutory status.

The law states that a change in the use of the land from "allotments only" has to to be authorised by the Secretaty of State.

A written answer in July 2009 to a question asked in Parliament about site closures in the 2 year period April 2007 to March 2009 is a useful read (you need to scroll down the page a bit) ...

http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm200809/cmhansrd/cm090714/text/90714w0025.htm

... it shows that a number of requests for a change in the use of the land were greeted with the response that the site in question did not have statutory status and that therefore no action was required from the Secretary of State. One assumes that the first step for government officials is to check the contract for the land.