HL Deb 09 May 1939 vol 112 cc999-1004

6.15 p.m.

LORD ADDISON rose to ask His Majesty's Government whether, in view of maintaining home food production, he will take steps to prevent the eviction of allotment holders from established and well-cultivated allotments as is now being proposed in Cardiff and West Ham?

The noble Lord said: My Lords, I wish to ask the Question which is on the Paper in my name, and I do so because quite lately a number of cases have been brought to my notice in which allotment holders, who have occupied allotments for quite a long time, and cultivated them quietly and diligently, have been quite unexpectedly evicted. I do not want to detain the House at this time by going into cases generally, but it is exceedingly important—I am sure the noble Earl will agree with me—at this time, when it is most necessary to maintain home food production at as high a level as possible, that these men who have cultivated their bits of ground and produced a lot from them should not be subject to quite unexpected, and in some cases almost wholesale, eviction unless some very urgent public reason can be shown for such action. I put the Question on the Paper only in order to elicit an answer from the noble Earl, which I am sure will be to the effect that the Ministry will exercise very great care, and make very diligent and careful inquiries, before they assent to any of these evictions where their assent is required.

6.17 p.m.

LORD PHILLIMORE

My Lords, before an answer is given to the Question I would like to detain your Lordships in the House for a few minutes, because I would like to emphasize the weight of the Question which the noble Lord has put. We have been talking, to-day, about the poor man's access to mountains and other beautiful countryside which should be open to him, and here we have a case where a poor man's access to the tiny little scrap of land which constitutes his allotment is taken away from him at short notice, contrary to all his expectation, and with a far greater and more far-reaching effect than if he were denied access to all the mountains and downs in England. These allotments are really the poor man's park, of which he is deprived. Not only in Cardiff and in West Ham have these cases occurred, but a similar case occurred in Nottingham the other day, where several hundreds of allotment holders were given notice.

I would also add that it is a singularly poor sort of reception of the Circular recently sent out by the Minister —a very strong and admirable Circular, and one for which we have been most grateful—urging on local authorities to retain allotments even at the cost of preventing the housing development which they might wish to make on that particular piece of land, and urging them, further, to buy land for the purpose of allotments, and so on. The answers that Cardiff and West Ham are giving seem to be a flat refusal to play the game which the Minister desires. I am afraid that it is not within the power of the Minister to take steps to prevent the municipalities concerned from disposing of their land in this way, but I think the noble Lord opposite has done a real service in bringing the attention of the House of Lords and of the public to what I cannot help thinking is a very short-sighted piece of administration.

6.19 p.m.

THE EARL OF FEVERSHAM

My Lords, I would like to say at the outset, in replying on behalf of the Government, that I cannot but agree with certain of the comments made by Lord Addison, and indeed by Lord Phillimore. The Government at this time particularly feel and appreciate the substantial contribution to food production that the produce from allotments can give in an emergency. Naturally we should hope for an extension of this particular food supply if the need should arise. Further, the Government naturally realise the full value of the alloment in time of peace. Not only is it a means of utilising for food production a large amount of labour brought by individuals in their spare time, but it is also a source of fresh food for the allotment holder and his wife and children. As the noble Lord, Lord Phillimore, has referred to the Circular issued on March 30 last, it will be seen that the Minister of Agriculture is prepared to take all practicable measures to ensure the maintenance and, if possible, an extension of the area of land cultivated as allotments. Insecurity regarding the tenure of the land cultivated is a factor that, no doubt, does hamper development and the difficulty that arises in cases where tenants are dispossessed is exemplified in the instances that the noble Lord has cited.

The allotments at West Ham comprise an area of about five acres, which was purchased by the Council some years ago for the purpose of a gravel pit. The land was let for temporary use as allotment gardens, but owing to the pressing need of the borough for housing sites, the Council have decided to utilise the land for rehousing in connection with their slum clearance programme. The authority consider that they have no alternative if their rehousing programme is to be proceeded with. In such a case where there is a conflict between the housing and allotment interests, I think the noble Lord will recognise that the housing interests must prevail. But, apart from that consideration, it is a fact that the land in question was not acquired by the council for allotments and, therefore, the Minister's consent to its appropriation for other purposes is not required. The noble Lord will know that under Section 22 of the Land Settlement Act, 1919, in a case where no power of appropriation is otherwise provided, the consent of the Minister, and the consent also of the Minister of Health, is required to the appropriation, for other purposes of a council, of land acquired by the council for allotments. In this case the land was not acquired for the purpose of allotments, it was required for the purpose of a gravel pit, and therefore the provisions of that section cannot be brought into operation. It means that the Minister has no power to prevent the Council from using the land for other than allotment purposes. Unfortunately the Council have not been able to purchase either this land or any other land in the borough of West Ham for permanent allotment purposes since the price of land has been too high to justify their buying it with that object in view.

In the case of Cardiff the Minister has information of four sites from which it is proposed to evict the allotment holders, I am given to understand to the number of some 500. I have ascertained that three of these sites are leased by the Corporation for allotment purposes subject to the right of the landlord to resume possession of the land for building or industrial purposes. These sites are now required by the owners, and the only way in which the land could be retained as allotments is for the Corporation to use their powers of compulsory acquisition. The noble Lord will appreciate that the Minister of course has no power to compel the Corporation to resort to the use of these powers. The fourth site was purchased by the Corporation some years ago for general purposes and was let temporarily for allotments. I gather that the land is now required for an important purpose in connection with their electricity works at Cardiff. In this instance the Minister will be prepared to use his influence to endeavour to persuade the authority to provide alternative land for the allotment holders.

The two cases cited by the noble Lord illustrate very well the difficulties which arise when the land has not been specifically purchased for allotments. If the land is used temporarily for allotments the authorities often wish to devote it to other purposes later on which they consider more important. If it is owned privately it is frequently required by the owners for building or for some other purpose, such as electricity works in the case of West Ham. It is because the Minister is fully aware of the harmful effect of the dispossession of allotment holders in this way that he has pressed the authorities repeatedly to make a practice of purchasing land definitely for allotments. And I am glad to say that there has been a gradual increase in the proportion of the total allotment area which has been purchased as allotment land. I looked up the figures and I see that at December 31, 1937, 42 per cent. of the area provided by urban authorities for allotments had been purchased for that purpose, as against the figure for 1934, when only 37 per cent. of the total allotment area had been purchased. So there is a gradual improvement.

My noble friend Lord Phillimore has, I am glad to say, referred to the important Circular that was issued to local authorities, and I think he will agree with me that it is not always the case that a circular so plainly spoken is sent out by Government Departments. There can be no excuse whatsoever that the purpose and intention which have been expressed by the noble Lord, Lord Addison, this afternoon, are not contained in the policy of the Government. I would like to bring to the attention of the House one portion of the Circular, which I think has a very important bearing on the whole question. It says: The Minister desires to point out that there seems to be a disposition on the part of some local authorities, when requiring land for such purposes as housing, schools, recreation grounds, etc., to consider first the acquisition or appropriation of land which has been used as allotments for many years even if it is in a good state of cultivation and fully occupied. The Minister would suggest that, in considering the provision of land for other purposes of the Council, the local authority should regard such allotment land as the last site to be considered rather than the first and that the provision of land for other purposes, however important, should not be made at the expense of the allotment movement, except as a last resort. I hope that local authorities will see fit to pay the respect that is due to the contents of that Circular, so recently issued as March 30 last.