Agriculture Act 1970

54 Land held by Minister for purposes of smallholdings

(1) This section applies to any land which is for the time being held by the Minister for the purposes of smallholdings.

(2) Subject to the following provisions of this section, in relation to land to which this section applies the Minister shall have the like duties and powers as smallholdings authorities have under the provisions of sections 44 to 47 and 49(1) and (2) of this Act in relation to land held by them for the purposes of smallholdings, as if in those provisions any reference to smallholdings provided by a smallholdings authority were a reference to smallholdings on land to which this section applies.

(3) Where for the purpose of assisting the conduct of smallholdings on land to which this section applies the Minister has (whether before or after the commencement of this Part of this Act) acquired by purchase or hiring machinery or other equipment, live or dead stock, seeds, fertilisers or other requisites, or provides any services, the powers of the Minister under section 47(3) of this Act, as applied by subsection (2) of this section, shall include power to sell or let them to, or (as the case may be) to provide the services for, any persons, whether they are tenants of smallholdings or not.

(4) Where any arrangements are made by the Minister under section 47(4) of this Act, as applied by subsection (2) of this section, and it appears to the Minister that any facilities provided in accordance with the arrangements are not required to be reserved exclusively for disposing of the produce of smallholdings on land to which this section applies, the arrangements may include provision for the use of those facilities for disposing of the produce of other agricultural holdings.

(5) Subject to subsection (6) of this section, the Minister may, in accordance with arrangements made by him with the approval of the Treasury, make loans for the purpose of providing working capital for a tenant of a smallholding on land to which this section applies, or for a person intending to become such a tenant.

(6) A loan made by the Minister under subsection (5) of this section in respect of a smallholding (or, if two or more loans are so made, the aggregate amount of those loans) shall not exceed three-quarters of the aggregate working capital which in the opinion of the Minister is required for the proper working of the smallholding.

(7) The Minister may designate any land for the time being vested in him as being land held by him for the purposes of smallholdings, and may at any time revoke any such designation ; and—

(a) any land comprised in such a designation which is for the time being in force shall for the purposes of this section be taken to be land held by the Minister for the purposes of smallholdings, whether apart from the designation it would be taken to be so held or not, and

(b) any land in respect of which such a designation has been revoked under this subsection shall be conclusively presumed to be land not held by the Minister for those purposes.