(4) Any question as to the amount payable to or by a local authority under this section may be determined by the Local Government Board. (5) Any receipts and expenditure of the council of a county. borough in respect of the provision of holdings to which this section relates shall be treated as if they were receipts and expenditure of the council in carrying out such a scheme as aforesaid. Provisions as to Allotments. 21. (1) The council of any borough, urban district or parish may purchase any fruit trees, seeds, plants, fertilizers or implements required for the purposes of allotments cultivated as gardens, whether provided by the council or otherwise, and sell any article so purchased to the cultivators, or, in the case of implements, allow their use, at a price or charge sufficient to cover the cost of purchase. (2) The powers conferred by the preceding subsection shall be exerciseable by a council only where in the opinion of the council the facilities for the purchase or hire of the articles therein referred to from a society on a co-operative basis are inadequate. (3) Rules made by a council under section twenty-eight of the principal Act, shall, unless otherwise expressly provided, apply to an allotment, though held under a tenancy made before the rules come into operation. (4) Any person who by any act done without lawful authority or by negligence causes damage to any crops growing on an allotment cultivated as a garden, shall be liable on summary conviction to a penalty not exceeding five pounds, but this provision shall not apply unless notice of the provision is conspicuously displayed on or near the allotment. (5) Stamp duty shall not be payable on any lease or agreement for the letting of any allotment or garden, whether provided under the principal Act or otherwise, or on any duplicate or counterpart of any such lease or agreement where the rent does not exceed ten shillings per annum and no premium is paid. Power of Appropriation of Land. 22.-(1) A council of a borough, urban district, or parish may, in a case where no power of appropriation is otherwise provided, with the consent of the Board of Agriculture and Fisheries and the Local Government Board, and subject to such conditions as to the repayment of any loan obtained for the purpose of the acquisition of land or otherwise as the last-mentioned Board may impose, (a) appropriate for the purpose of allotments any land held by 1919. 9 & 10 Geo. 5. c. 59. 1919. 9 & 10 Geo. 5. c. 59. (2) This section shall apply, in the county of London, to the council of the county and to any metropolitan borough council. Agreements as to Compensation where Land is Let for Provision of Allotments. 23. Where land is let for the provision of allotments either to a council under the principal Act or to an association formed for the purpose of creating or promoting the creation of allotments, the right of the council or association to claim compensation from the landlord on the determination of the tenancy shall be subject to the terms of the contract of tenancy, notwithstanding the provision of any Act to the contrary: Provided that this section shall not prejudice or affect any right on the part of a person holding under a tenancy granted by the council or association to claim compensation from the council or association on the determination of his tenancy. Power of Metropolitan Boroughs as to Allotments. 24. The powers as to allotments conferred on borough councils by the principal Act may be exercised by a metropolitan borough council, and the expenses so incurred by a council shall be defrayed, and money for such purpose may be borrowed, under and in accordance 54 & 55 Vict. with the provisions of the Public Health (London) Act, 1891, as if such expenses were incurred by the council under that Act. c. 71. Minor Amendments of Principal Act. 25. (1) The provisions of the principal Act specified in the first column of the Second Schedule to this Act shall be amended in the manner specified in the second column of that schedule. (2) Subsection (2) of section twenty-seven of the principal Act is hereby repealed. PART III. RECOUPMENT OF LOSSES INCURRED BY COUNCILS. Recoupment of Losses incurred in Exercise of Powers under 26. (1) At the end of the financial year ending on the thirtyfirst day of March in the year nineteen hundred and twenty and of each of the six succeeding years the Board shall pay to a council of a county the loss (if any) which may be shown to the satisfaction of the Board of Agriculture and Fisheries to have been reasonably or necessarily incurred by the council during the financial year in the exercise of their powers under the principal Act otherwise than in relation to small holdings of less than one acre. (2) The Board shall, on the passing of this Act, pay to a council of a county the loss (if any) which may be shown to the satisfaction of the Board to have been reasonably or necessarily incurred by the council in the exercise of their powers under the principal Act during the period from the first day of January nineteen hundred and eight to the thirty-first day of March nineteen hundred and nineteen. (3) In calculating for the purposes of this section the amount of any loss incurred by a council, there shall be included all sums paid by the council by way of interest, or sinking fund, or other loan charges on account of loans obtained for the purpose of acquiring and adapting land for small holdings, and the amount of the loss shall be determined under and in accordance with regulations made. by the Board with the approval of the Treasury. (4) Until the thirty-first day of March nineteen hundred and twenty-six, a council of a county shall not incur expenditure under section forty-nine of the principal Act (which relates to co-operative societies), without the consent of the Board. (5) Subsection (4) of section six and section twenty-one of the principal Act are hereby repealed. (6) This section shall apply to losses incurred by the council of a county borough in the exercise of their powers under the principal Act in relation to small holdings. Recoupment of Capital Losses. 27. (1) The value of the interest of the council of a county in all land acquired by the council under the principal Act, other than land acquired by the council acting in default of a district or parish council and small holdings of less than one acre, and vested in the council on the first day of April nineteen hundred and twenty-six, shall be ascertained as on that date by a valuation made by one or more persons agreed on by the Board of Agriculture and Fisheries and the council, or failing such agreement, appointed by the President of the Surveyors' Institution, and where, owing to the conditions of tenancy on which any such land is let or held, or to any rentcharge to which it is subject, or otherwise, the value of the interest of the council in that land is a minus amount, that amount shall be brought into account for the purposes of the valuation aforesaid. The value of the interest of the council in such land as aforesaid shall for the purposes of this section be deemed to be such as in the opinion of the person or persons by whom the value is ascertained will allow the value so ascertained, and all expenses which may be incurred by the council in relation to the land to be recouped out of the purchase money or rents which might reasonably be expected to be obtained if the land were sold or let by the council for small holdings or allotments, as the case may be. 1919. 9 & 10 Geo. 5. c. 59. 1919. (2) There shall also at the same date be ascertained by agree9 & 10 Geo. 5. ment between the Board and the council, or, in default of agree c. 59. C. 122. ment, by an accountant appointed by the Treasury, the amount of the total capital liabilities of the council at the same date in respect of the acquisition and adaptation of such land as aforesaid. (3) If the amount of the liabilities so ascertained as aforesaid exceeds the value of the interest of the council in the land as so ascertained, the Board shall pay to the council as from the same date such part of the interest and sinking fund or other loan charges payable by the council in respect of money borrowed to defray the expenditure as is proportionate to the amount by which such liabilities exceed the value so ascertained. (4) The Board and the council shall each bear their own costs incurred in connexion with the ascertainment of any such liabilities or value as aforesaid, and shall contribute in equal shares to the charges of any person appointed to determine any such liabilities or value. (5) This section shall apply to the council of a county borough in respect of land acquired by the council for the purposes of small holdings. PART IV. Provisions as to Commons and Open Spaces. 28. (1) Any land which is, or forms part of, a metropolitan 29 & 30 Vict. common within the meaning of the Metropolitan Commons Act, 1866, or which is subject to regulation under an order or scheme made in pursuance of the Inclosure Acts, 1845 to 1899, or under any local Act or otherwise, or which is or forms part of any town or village green, or of any area dedicated or appropriated as a public park, garden, or pleasure ground, or for use for the purposes of public recreation, shall not be appropriated under this Act by a council for small holdings or allotments, and shall not be acquired by a council or by the Board of Agriculture and Fisheries under the principal Act except under the authority of an order for compulsory purchase made under the principal Act, which so far as it relates to such land shall be provisional only, and shall not have effect unless it is confirmed by Parliament. 39 & 40 Vict. c. 56. (2) The Board of Agriculture and Fisheries, in giving or withholding their consent under this Act to the appropriation and in confirming an order for compulsory acquisition by a council for the purpose of small holdings or allotments of any land which forms part of any common, and in the exercise by the Board of their powers of acquiring land under this Act, shall have regard to the same considerations and shall hold the same inquiries as are directed by the Commons Act, 1876, to be taken into consideration and held by the Board before forming an opinion whether an application under the Inclosure Acts shall be acceded to or not. Any consent by the Board of Agriculture and Fisheries for the appropriation of land forming part of any common for the purpose of small holdings or allotments shall be laid before Parliament while Parliament is sitting, and, if within twenty-one days in either House of Parliament a motion is carried dissenting from such appropriation, the order of the Board shall be cancelled. (3) Where an order for compulsory purchase to which this section applies or a consent by the Board to the appropriation of land provides for giving other land in exchange for the common or open space to be purchased or appropriated, the order for compulsory purchase or an order made by the Board in relation to the consent for appropriation may vest the land given in exchange in the persons in whom the common or open space purchased or appropriated was vested subject to the same rights, trusts, and incidents as attached to the common or open space and discharges the land purchased or appropriated from all rights, trusts, and incidents to which it was previously subject. (4) Nothing in the principal Act shall be deemed to authorise the acquisition of any land which forms part of the trust property to which the National Trust Act, 1907, applies. Amendment of Settled Land Acts, 1882 to 1890. 29. The powers conferred upon a tenant for life by the Settled Land Acts, 1882 to 1890, shall include the following further power: A power at any time, or times, to make a grant or grants of 1919. 9 & 10 Geo. 5. c. 59. 7 Edw. 7. c. cxxxvi. 9 & 10 Geo. 5. c. 35. |