Allotments (Scotland) Act 1892
| Jurisdiction | UK Non-devolved |
| Citation | 1892 c. 54 |
| Year | 1892 |
Allotments (Scotland) Act, 1892
(55 & 56 Vict.) 54.
An Act to facilitate the provision of Allotments for the Labouring Classes in Scotland.
[28th June 1892]
Be it enacted by the Queen's most Excellent Majesty, by and with the advice and consent of the Lords Spiritual and Temporal, and Commons, in this present Parliament assembled and by the authority of the same, as follows:
1 Short title.
1. This Act may be cited as theAllotments (Scotland) Act, 1892.
2 Duty of local authority to acquire land for allotments.
(1)2.—(1.) On a representation in writing to the local authority of any burgh or county by any six registered parliamentary electors or ratepayers resident, in the ease of a burgh, in that burgh, and, in the case of a county, in some parish in that county, that the circumstances of the burgh or parish are, such that it is the duty of the local authority to take proceedings under this Act therein, the local authority shall take such representation into consideration.
If the local authority of any burgh or county are of opinion, either after inquiry made in consequence of such representation or otherwise, that there is a demand for allotments for the labouring population in such burgh, or in any parish in such county, and that such allotments cannot be obtained at a reasonable rent and on reasonable conditions by voluntary arrangement between the owners of land suitable for such allotments and the applicants for the same, the local authority, subject to the provisions of this Act, shall by purchase or leasing acquire any suitable land which may be available, whether within or without the said burgh or the said parish, adequate to provide a sufficient number of allotments, and shall let such land in allotments to persons belonging to the labouring population resident in the said burgh or parish and desiring to take the same.
(2) (2.) A local authority shall not under this Act acquire land for allotments save at such price or rent that in the opinion of the local authority all expenses, except such expenses as are incurred in making roads to be used by the public, incurred by the local authority in acquiring the land and otherwise in relation to the allotments may reasonably be expected to be recouped out of the rents obtained in respect thereof.
For the purpose of this section, the expression ‘reasonable rent,’ means the rent, exclusive of rates and taxes, which a person taking an allotment might reasonably be expected to pay, taking one year with another, to a landlord, having regard to the value of similar land in the neighbourhood, to the extent and situation of the allotment, to the expenses of adapting the land to the purposes of the allotment, and to the repairs and other outgoings payable by the landlord, and to the cost and risk of collecting the rents of, and otherwise managing, allotments.
3 Acquisition of land for purposes of Act.
(1)3.—(1.) For the purposes of the purchase of land by agreement by a local authority for allotments, the Lands Clauses Acts shall be incorporated with this Act, except the provisions with respect to the purchase and taking of land otherwise than by agreement, and with respect to the provision to be made for affording access to the special Act.
(2) (2.) If a local authority are unable by leasing or purchase by agreement to acquire suitable land sufficient for allotments under this Act for any burgh or parish at a reasonable price or rent and subject to reasonable conditions, such authority may, subject to the provisions of this Act, make a provisional order putting in force, as respects the land mentioned in the order, the provisions of the Lands Clauses Acts with respect to the purchase and taking of land otherwise than by agreement.
(3) (3.) Before making any such provisional order the local authority shall—
(a ) Publish once at the least in each of three consecutive weeks in the month of November in some newspaper circulating in the locality an advertisement describing shortly the land proposed to be taken and naming a place where a plan of the land may be seen at all reasonable hours and stating the quantity of land proposed to be taken; and shall further in the month of December:
(b ) After such publication serve a notice in manner herein-after mentioned on every owner or reputed owner, lessee or reputed lessee and occupier of such land defining in each case the particular land intended to be taken, and requiring an answer stating whether the person so served assents, dissents, or is neuter in respect of taking such land:
(c ) Such notice shall be served by delivery of the same personally to the person required to be served or, if such person is absent abroad, to his agent, or by leaving the same at the usual or last known place of abode of such person as aforesaid, or by forwarding the same by post in a registered letter addressed to the usual or last known place of abode of such person.
(d ) After the publication and service in this section mentioned the local authority may, by a majority of the full number of its members at a meeting called with special notice, resolve to make and may make an order putting in force, with reference to the land referred to in such order, the powers of the Lands Clauses Acts with respect to the purchasing and taking of land otherwise than by agreement, or any of them, and either absolutely or with such conditions and modifications as they may think fit, and it shall be the duty of the local authority, within one month after the date of the order, to serve a copy of any order so made in the manner and upon the persons in which and upon whom notices in respect of the land to which the order relates are required by this Act to be served:
(e ) No order so made shall be of any validity unless the same has been confirmed by Act of Parliament; and it shall be lawful for the Secretary for Scotland, on the application of any local authority, to introduce into Parliament a Bill confirming any provisional order made under this Act by such local authority, and the local authority shall be considered as the promoters of the order:
(f ) Before introducing any such Bill into Parliament the Secretary for Scotland shall consider any objections to the provisional order which may be lodged with him within one month after the date of the service of the order as in this section mentioned by any person affected thereby, and may, if he thinks fit, direct the sheriff to hold a local inquiry and to report to him with respect to such objections:
(g ) The Secretary for Scotland, in case he shall refuse to introduce such Bill into Parliament, may make such order as he shall think fit in regard to the costs, charges and expenses connected with any inquiry as aforesaid, including the costs, charges and expenses of any party opposing the order; and such costs, charges and expenses shall be payable by the local authority out of such assessment as the Secretary for Scotland may determine.
(4) (4.) In construing for the purposes of this section any section or Acts incorporated with or put in force under this section, this Act, together with any Act confirming a provisional order under this section, shall be deemed to be the special Act, and the word ‘land’ shall have the same meaning as in this Act.
Provided that—
(a. ) Any question of disputed compensation shall be referred to the arbitration of a sole arbiter appointed by the parties, or if the parties do not concur in the appointment of a sole arbiter, then, on the application of either of them, by the Secretary for Scotland, and the remuneration to be paid to the arbiter appointed by the Secretary for Scotland shall be fixed by the said Secretary:
(b. ) If an arbiter appointed for the Purposes of this Act dies or becomes incapable to act before he has made his award, or fails to make his award within two months after he is appointed, his appointment shall determine, and the determination of the compensation shall be referred to another arbiter appointed in like manner as if no arbiter had been previously appointed: Provided always, that the same arbiter may be re-appointed:
(c. ) An arbiter appointed under this section shall be deemed to be an arbiter within the meaning of the Lands Clauses Acts and the provisions of those Acts with respect to an arbitration shall apply accordingly; and, further, the arbiter, notwithstanding anything in the said Acts, shall determine the amount of the expenses and shall have power to disallow as expenses in the arbitration the expenses of any witness whom he considers to have been called unnecessarily, and any other expenses which he considers to have been incurred unnecessarily.
(5) (5.) Where land is purchased by a local authority under this Act otherwise than by agreement, the following provisions shall apply:
(a. ) The local authority shall not make a provisional order for purchasing any park, garden, pleasure-ground, or other land required for the amenity or convenience of any dwelling-house, or any land the property of a railway or canal company which is or may be required for the purposes of their undertaking:
(b. ) The local authority shall, in making a provisional order for purchasing land, have regard to the extent of land held in the neighbourhood by any owner and to the convenience of other property belonging to the same owner, and shall so far as is practicable avoid taking an undue or inconvenient quantity of land from any one owner.
(6) (6.) For the purpose...
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