Land Settlement (Facilities) Act 1919

PART IV General

28 Provisions as to commons and open spaces

(1) Any land which is, or forms part of, a metropolitan common within the meaning of the [29 & 30 Vict. c. 122.] Metropolitan Commons Act, 1866, or which is subject to regulation under an order or scheme made in pursuance of the Inclosure Acts, 1845 to 1899, or under any local Act or otherwise, or which is or forms part of any town or village green, or of any area dedicated or appropriated as a public park, garden, or pleasure ground, or for use for the purposes of public recreation, shall not be appropriated under this Act by a council for small holdings or allotments, and shall not be acquired by a council or by the Board of Agriculture and Fisheries under the principal Act except under the authority of an order for compulsory purchase made under the principal Act, which so far as it relates to such land shall be provisional only, and shall not have effect unless it is confirmed by Parliament.

(2) The Board of Agriculture and Fisheries, in giving or withholding their consent under this Act to the appropriation and in confirming an order for compulsory acquisition by a council for the purpose of small holdings or' allotments of any land which forms part of any common, and in the exercise by the Board of their powers of acquiring land under this Act, shall have regard to the same considerations and shall hold the same inquiries as are directed by the [39 & 40 Vict. c. 56.] Commons Act, 1876, to be taken into consideration and held by the Board before forming an opinion whether an application under the Inclosure Acts shall be acceded to or not. Any consent by the Board of Agriculture and Fisheries for the appropriation of land forming part of any common for the purpose of small holdings or allotments shall be laid before Parliament while Parliament is sitting, and, if within twenty-one days in either House of Parliament a motion is carried dissenting from such appropriation the order of the Board shall be cancelled.

(3) Where an order for compulsory purchase to which this section applies or a consent by the Board to the appropriation of land provides for giving other land in exchange for the common or open space to be purchased or appropriated, the order for compulsory purchase or an order made by the Board in relation to the consent for appropriation may vest the land given in exchange in the persons in whom the common or open space purchased or appropriated was vested subject to the same rights, trusts, and incidents as attached to the common or open space and discharges the land purchased or appropriated from all rights, trusts, and incidents to which it was previously subject.

(4) Nothing in the principal Act shall be deemed to authorise the acquisition of any land which forms part of the trust property to which the [7 Edw. 7. c. cxxxvi. Local and Private.] National Trust Act, 1907, applies.

29 Amendment of Settled Land Acts, 1882 to 1890

The powers conferred upon a tenant for life by the Settled Land Acts, 1882 to 1890, shall include the following further power:—

A power at any time, or times, to make a grant or grants of any part or parts of the settled land in fee simple or absolutely, or a lease or leases for any term of years without any consideration, or at a nominal price, annuity or rent, or at less than the best price, annuity or rent that can reasonably be obtained for the purpose of the Small Holdings and Allotments Acts, 1908 to 1919, and any such grant as aforesaid shall be deemed to be a sale within the meaning of the said Settled Land Acts: Provided that, except under an order of the court, no more than two acres in the case of land situate in an urban district or ten acres in the case of land situate in a rural district in any one parish shall be granted or leased under this power for the purpose of the said Small Holdings and Allotments Acts or under the similar power conferred by the [9 & 10 Geo. 5. c. 35.] Housing, Town Planning, &c. Act, 1919, for the purpose of the erection of dwellings for the working classes or the provision of gardens to be held in connexion therewith or for all of such purposes together without payment of the full-price annuity or rent for any land granted or leased in excess of such quantity.

30 Provisions as to land taken under the Defence of the Realm Regulations

(1) For removing doubts it is hereby declared that section one of the [6 & 7 Geo. 5. c. 63.] Defence of the Realm (Acquisition of Land) Act, 1916, applies to land of which possession has been taken by the Board of Agriculture and Fisheries under the powers conferred by Regulations 2L and 2M of the Defence of the Realm Regulations, and that the Board are entitled whilst in possession by themselves or by any person deriving title under them of the land, after the termination of the present war, to exercise in relation thereto any of the powers conferred by those regulations for such term and subject to such conditions as are mentioned in the said Act.

(2) Where at the termination of the present war a local authority is exercising powers under the said Regulation 2L in respect of land of which the local authority is owner or occupier, the local authority may continue to exercise those powers in relation to that land until the expiration of two years from the termination of the present war, and the provisions of subsection (6) of the said regulation shall apply accordingly.

31 Expenses

The expenses of the Board of Agriculture and fisheries under this Act to such extent, as may be sanctioned by the Treasury shall, except so far as is otherwise expressly provided, if incurred for the purposes of Part I. of this Act, be defrayed out of moneys provided by Parliament, and if incurred for the purposes of any other Part of this Act be defrayed out of the Small Holdings Account.

32 Construction

(1) This Act, so far as it amends the principal Act, shall be construed as one with that Act, and references in this Act to the principal Act, or to any provision of the principal Act, shall, where the context permits, be construed as references to the principal Act, or the provisions of the principal Act as amended by this Act.

(2) References to small holdings provided, and to land acquired, under the principal Act shall be construed as including references to small holdings provided and land acquired under any enactment repealed by the principal Act.

33 Repeal

The enactments mentioned in the Third Schedule to this Act are hereby repealed to the extent specified in the third column of that schedule.

34 Short title

This Act may be cited as the Land Settlement (Facilities) Act, 1919, and the [8 Edw. 7. c. 36.] Small Holdings and Allotments Acts, 1908 and [10 Edw. 7. & 1 Geo. 5. c. 35.] 1910, and so much of this Act as amends those Acts may be cited together as the Small Holdings and Allotments Acts, 1908 to 1919.