§ 77. Sir KINGSLEY WOODasked the Minister of Agriculture whether he is aware of the dissatisfaction amongst allotment holders who have been called upon to surrender their allotments for immediate building and industrial purposes, whereas the land is now permitted to lie idle and derelict; and what steps he proposes to take to ensure that allotment holders will not be dispossessed by local authorities and private landlords until the land is definitey required for these purposes?
§ Sir R. SANDERSThe number of cases in which allotment holders have recently been required to surrender their plots for building, and the land has not been so utilised within a reasonable time, is very few. In such cases if there is reason to think that the land will not be utilised for building, etc., for a considerable time, the local allotments authority have power under the Allotments Acts to acquire the land. In reply to the second part of the question, my hon. Friend is probably aware that the Allotments Act, 1922, empowers a local authority or an association to refer to arbitration the question as to whether a landowner bonâ fide requires for building or industrial development land let to the authority or association for allotment gardens.