Clause 55.—(SMALLHOLDINGS, ALLOTMENTS, ETC.) (Hansard, 25 July 1963)

§ The Joint Parliamentary Secretary to the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food (Mr. James Scott-Hopkins)
I beg to move, That this House doth agree with the Lords in the said Amendment.
This Amendment goes with the subsequent Amendment in lines 31 and 32. These are little more than drafting Amendments, to put right two points in the wording of the Bill, which made it slightly too restrictive. As at present drafted the Clause makes the Greater London Council a smallholdings authority, with power to provide smallholdings, but does not confer upon it the duty to provide smallholdings. This provision is made in the case of every other county council except the London County Council under the Agriculture Act, 1947. The Amendment will rectify this omission and, by making Section 47 of that Act apply to the Greater London Council, will ensure that it has a duty to provide smallholdings similar to that now imposed on the Middlesex County Council.
Similarly, we must ensure that the Greater London Council will be able to exercise all the functions which are now exercisable by the county councils, and especially by the Middlesex County Council, under the pre-1947 legislation. 1871 The second Amendment provides that all the remaining functions will be transferred to the Greater London Council. I should mention that these Amendments require a small consequential Amendment to the Schedule of Repeals. On page 216, in column 3, lines 35 to 37 become redundant.

§ Mr. M. Stewart
I have a special interest in allotments, not because I have ever had one but because Fulham Palace is in my constituency and the Palace Meadows provide a considerable stretch of allotments which are very much treasured in Fulham. I wanted to get the position quite clear. I found this a difficult part of the Bill to follow in Committee, as did the hon. Member for Orpington (Mr. Lubbock), who put down an Amendment which was drafted rather more skilfully than mine at the time. I am never sure what is the exact meaning, in an Act of Parliament, of the word "smallholding", as compared with the word "allotment". I think that I am right in saying that if we agree to these Amendments the Greater London Council will have such duties and powers in respect of allotments as the county councils now have.
Am I also right in concluding that the powers and duties of the new boroughs in Greater London will be the same as those which the Metropolitan boroughs now have in respect of allotments? I shall be grateful if the hon. Member can tell me.

§ Mr. Pavitt
My hon. Friend the Member for Fulham (Mr. M. Stewart) has referred to the effect that the Amendments may have on the metropolitan boroughs. Will the Minister also deal with the position of the outer London boroughs, which are in a slightly different situation in this respect from that of the metropolitan boroughs?

§ Mr. Scott-Hopkins
These Amendments deal with smallholdings, which are not the same as allotments. Allotments are small plots which may be of any size up to four acres, but smallholdings may go up to as much as 50 acres. The Greater London Council is the responsible authority for the smallholdings, and the Amendments impose a mandatory duty upon the Greater London Council to provide these smallholdings.

§ Mr. Scott-Hopkins
I beg to move, That this House doth agree with the Lords in the said Amendment.
This Amendment is of a purely formal nature. Section 71 of the Agriculture, Act, 1947, provides that the Minister of Agriculture should set up county agricultural executive committees for each administrative county except the County of London. Subsection (8,c) provides that the County of London shall be treated as if any such part thereof as the Minister may direct were included in such adjoining administrative county as he may direct. The Amendment gives my right hon. Friend the power to apportion the area of Greater London between the agricultural executive committees of adjoining administrative counties. He has that power at present in relation to the County of London.
I should also mention that the words except the County of London in Section 71 of the Agriculture Act, 1947, will become redundant, and provision is therefore made for their repeal by an appropriate Amendment in the Schedule of Repeals.