CLAUSE 15. — (Power of County Council to Acquire Land for Letting to Parish Council for Allotments.) (Hansard, 22 July 1919)

§ Sir F. BLAKE
I beg to move, to leave out the words 1256 for the purpose of leasing it to the council of a parish within the county for the provision of allotments, and, and to insert instead thereof the words and may appropriate land already acquired, for the purpose of providing allotments, either directly or by means of leasing such land to the council of a parish within the county, as the county council may think fit. This Amendment is intended to enable a county council to become a direct allotment authority, and I appeal to the enthusiasm which the hon. and gallant Member (Sir A. Griffith-Boscawen) expressed for allotments at an earlier stage in the evening to assist me by supporting my proposal. It is to enable a county council to become a direct allotment authority, in view especially of the fact that it may be desirable to use as allotments rather than as small holdings any portion of an estate which has been purchased by them. In my own county, for instance, we have lately acquired a very large tract of land, some 1,500 to 1,800 acres. A portion of that land is much more suitable for allotments by virtue of the fact that it lies contiguous to a small hamlet or village where the -cottagers might become the allotment-holders. In all probability that portion of the land was at one time cut up into allotment^*, and that it has gone back into a larger cultivation. It is desirable that it should be let as allotments rather than as small holdings. It is desirable also that the estate should be managed in one hand, and that it should not be necessary to hand over to the district council or the parish council that portion of the estate which is most suitable for allotments. The Amendment does not do away with the power of the county council to assign any portion of the land that it thinks desirable for allotments to the council of the parish, but it gives it an option in its own behalf to use the land to the very best advantage. I had an Amendment similar to this which was moved in Committee, and I was told then that it was not necessary to move the Amendment because the powers that I sought were already given by Amendments made in Clause 11. Perhaps that is the answer I shall get this afternoon.

§ Sir E POLLOCK
To a portion of it.

§ Sir F. BLAKE
I do not think it gives the direct power of acting as an allotment authority. I have looked at it, and with great respect I say it does not seem to do so. The land can be acquired for small holdings by the county council, but for the 1257 purposes of allotments it can be acquired only if the parish council is in default, and what I am seeking to do by this Amendment is to enlarge the powers of the county council go that it becomes the direct authority and may acquire land, not necessarily when a parish council is in default, but can acquire it when it is suitable for email holdings and allotments, and may acquire the land as a whole, and make use of it in such a. way as seems best. The Amendment has the approval of the County Councils Association. That association is very anxious that every means should be used to increase allotments.

§ Major LANE-FOX
I beg to second the Amendment. The Solicitor-General says that the county councils have the power which is sought by this Amendment under Clause 11. If the hon. and learned Gentleman can show that under Clause 11 they are an allotting authority and do not merely become so in default, I shall be very glad to accept that statement and this Amendment will not be necessary. It does seem to me there is sometimes a want of enthusiasm on the part of the parish councils, and I think it is most necessary that the county councils should have more than default powers. Anybody who has had much to do with the creation of allotments, knows the difficulties there were in getting any real enthusiasm by some of the parish councils. If the county councils have not got those full powers, I think they should receive them.

§ Sir E. POLLOCK
I hope I did not embarrass my hon. Friend who moved while he was addressing the House, and putting the purpose of his Amendment so clearly, but I did so because I thought he was endeavouring to make plain that his Amendment really had two purposes. He is anxious, as I understand, to see that there is abundant power in the county councils to use appropriated land that is already acquired both for the purpose of small holdings and for the purpose of allotments. If he will be good enough to follow me in the Bill, I think he will see that Clause 17, in all its provisions, does contain that power. The catch words are Extension of powers of councils in relation to land acquired under principal Act. There is power under the principal Act to acquire land both for the purpose of small holdings and for the purpose of allotments. When the land has been acquired, there is, under Sub-section (I) (b), power 1258 to sell, exchange, or let any such land or any interest therein, and under paragraph (c) of the same Subsection in a case where no power of appropriation is otherwise provided with the consent of the Board and the Local Government Board and subject to the repayment of any loan made for the purpose of the acquisition of the land or otherwise and the last-mentioned Board may impose, … (i) to appropriate for any purpose for which the council is authorised, to acquire land under the principal Act any land held by the council for other purposes. … Therefore, so far as I can see—and I do not ask my hon. Friends to rely solely on me, and I am perfectly ready to have a matter pointed out if they think it is not right—the united powers of the Bill give abundant power to cover the first purpose of this Amendment—namely, to use land for the purpose of providing allotments.
We come to the next point, and this is a point upon which we may have more divergent opinion, and that is, providing allotments either directly or by means of leasing such land to the council of a parish. The meaning of that is, that the county council ought to be able in a, parish to let allotments to allotment-holders. There may, I think, be two views about that. I quite understand the point that you may find a recalcitrant parish council which has done very little, but that you should give in that area to the county council the right to go in and let to parochial allotment-holders is not the view we take. We think—and I believe the House will endorse this—that it is undesirable to give to county councils concurrent power with the parish council in the matter of the letting of allotments, which is really a local affair. I think we should all agree that if you can get the parish councils to let the allotments it is far better that it should be done by them, as they are fully cognisant of the allotment-holders, and know the local area and particular circumstances and needs of their parish. It would only be for the purpose of making good the absence of action or energy on the part of the parish council that any lion. Member, I think, would desire to bring in the county council into what are really parochial affairs, using the words geographically. It is far better to try and secure adequate control first by the Board, and the county councils, if necessary, and so through to the parish councils, and not to create what might be two discordant authorities, and to enable the county 1259 council to intervene in matters concerning a parish, and thus to have a dual control. It would be much better to get the parish council, by pressure put upon it, to do its duty, than to have the county council come in to the sphere where the parish council ought to reign. It is because we consider that the first part of the objects covered by the Amendment already exist in the Bill, and because we Believe that it would not be right to give the direct power sought in the second part that we are unable to accept the Amendment which has been thoroughly explained by the hon. Gentleman. We have sympathy with the purpose with which it is moved, and in saying what I do I am not to be taken as hostile to the intervention or energy of the county councils, but we think we ought to try and keep the two authorities in their proper spheres, and that to give this power to the county councils of letting direct would be unwise.

§ Sir F. BLAKE
I am very much obliged for the great attention which the hon. and learned Gentleman has given to the Amendment, and for the clear way in which he has explained the exact position. I accept what he says. I understand we have some powers to appropriate land, and I can assure him that we had no idea in any way of interfering with the powers of the parish councils in this matter.