Allotments, open space and disposal consent

Allotment disposal consent is a ministerial consent, not a planning permission, and that distinction explains most of the confusion around campaigns to save allotment sites. A council can hold a valid planning permission for houses on an allotment field and still be unable to sell it, because land acquired or appropriated for use as allotments cannot be disposed of without the consent of the Secretary of State under the Allotments Act 1925.

Two separate protections run alongside: the advertisement requirement for disposals of open space, and the separate consent regime for school playing fields. Knowing which applies to the land in question is the first thing worth establishing.

Statutory and temporary allotments

The protection attaches to the status of the land rather than to its appearance.

Statutory allotments are those a local authority acquired or appropriated for use as allotments under the allotments legislation. These carry the ministerial consent requirement. Temporary allotments are plots the authority holds under some other power, or occupies under a lease or licence from a private owner, and they carry no such protection. A field let to an allotment association on a rolling annual tenancy from a private landowner is not a statutory allotment, however long it has been cultivated.

Finding out which you are dealing with takes a written question to the council: under what power was this land acquired or appropriated, and is it held as statutory allotments. The answer sits in the authority's property records. Where the land was acquired long ago the records can be unclear, and the question has occasionally been resolved only after a formal information request.

Private allotments, including those owned by a parish or town council as statutory allotments, follow the same rule where the authority is a local authority within the legislation. Charity-owned allotment land brings a different set of constraints, because disposal of charity land has its own procedure.

The consent needed before disposal

Section 8 of the Allotments Act 1925 prevents a local authority from disposing of, or appropriating for another purpose, land acquired or appropriated for allotments without ministerial consent. Appropriation matters as much as sale: a council that decides to use an allotment field for a school or a depot needs the same consent as one that sells it to a developer.

The application is made by the authority to the department responsible for housing and local government, with its evidence. It is not an application members of the public make, and there is no formal third party right of appeal. Representations are made to the authority and, in practice, to the department.

Consent can be granted unconditionally, granted subject to conditions, or refused. Conditions commonly relate to replacement provision and to the use of the receipts.

The tests the department applies

The published criteria the department applies are consistent, and anyone making representations should address them directly rather than arguing the general merits of allotments.

1. Whether the allotment land is surplus to requirements, judged against demand rather than against current occupancy.
2. Whether the number of people on the waiting list has been properly taken into account.
3. Whether the authority has actively promoted and publicised the availability of plots, so that low take-up is not the product of the authority's own inaction.
4. Whether adequate alternative provision will be made for displaced plot holders, or whether such provision is not needed at all.
5. What the implications of disposal are for the authority's other relevant policies, particularly its development plan.

The third criterion is the one that most often defeats a disposal. A site with vacant plots and no advertising, no sign at the gate and a waiting list the council has not maintained is not evidence of low demand. Where objectors can show that enquiries went unanswered, the surplus argument weakens considerably.

Waiting list evidence cuts both ways, so check how the list is kept. Lists that are purged annually, or that cover a whole district rather than the site, understate local demand.

Advertising a disposal of open space

A second and wider protection applies to open space generally. Where a principal council proposes to dispose of land consisting of or forming part of an open space, section 123 of the Local Government Act 1972 requires it to advertise the proposal in a newspaper circulating in the area for two consecutive weeks and to consider any objections received.

This is a procedural requirement with real teeth, because a disposal made without it is open to challenge. It applies to parks, recreation grounds and amenity greens as well as to allotment land, and it is independent of whether planning permission exists.

Watch for the notice. Councils publish it in the statutory notices section, which is read by almost nobody, and the objection window is short. Where a disposal is being discussed, ask the authority in writing to notify you when the notice is published.

The duty is to consider objections, not to accept them. A well made objection sets out a specific, evidenced reason, for example the absence of equivalent provision within walking distance, rather than opposition in principle.

School playing fields and the separate consent

Playing field land in school use carries its own regime. The disposal or change of use of school playing field land needs the consent of the Secretary of State under the School Standards and Framework Act 1998, with its own criteria and its own process.

Separately, in planning terms, Sport England is a statutory consultee on development affecting playing field land under the development management procedure rules, and its objection to a scheme affecting a playing field carries substantial weight. The two are distinct. A scheme can clear the planning consultation and still need the education consent, and losing either stops the project.

Where land is held by a trust, including the recreational trusts that hold many village playing fields, the trust deed and the charity law procedure add a third layer. Check the title for restrictive covenants at the same time, because a covenant restricting use to recreation can outlast every statutory protection.

How these consents relate to planning permission

None of these consents is a planning permission, and planning permission is not a consent to dispose.

The practical sequence is usually that a council promotes the site through the local plan, grants or obtains planning permission, and then seeks the disposal consent. Objectors who focus only on the planning application sometimes find the permission granted and assume the matter is closed. It is not, and the consent stage is a separate opportunity to make the case.

Conversely, a disposal consent does not make the development acceptable in planning terms. The development plan, the loss of open space policies and any Local Green Space designation still apply, and where the proposal would result in a loss of open space the evidence needed includes an assessment of existing provision and need. That assessment usually takes the form of an Open Space Assessment, with a Play Space Assessment where children's provision is affected.

Replacement provision, and what counts

Where replacement is offered, the detail decides whether it is adequate.

Ask four questions. Is the replacement land of equivalent or better quality, which for allotments means soil condition, water supply, security and access rather than area alone. Is it accessible to the existing plot holders without a car. Is it secured in perpetuity, by transfer or by a long lease with appropriate restrictions. And is it available before the existing site closes, so that cultivation is not interrupted for years.

Relocation to land that floods, has no water supply or is twenty minutes further away is not equivalent provision, and saying so with specifics is more effective than saying the replacement is inadequate.

Other designations are worth checking in the same exercise, because a site may be protected in more than one way. Common land and town or village green registration provide protections that operate independently of the local authority's intentions, and our note on common land and village greens as development constraints sets out how they work.

How to object

Do these things in order, and keep a copy of everything.

Establish the land's status in writing from the council. Ask to be notified of any section 123 notice and of any application for ministerial consent. When the time comes, write a short, specific objection addressing the published criteria point by point, with evidence: dated enquiry emails that went unanswered, photographs of cultivated plots, the distance to the nearest alternative site measured on foot. Send it to the authority and ask that it be forwarded with the consent application.

Then look at the development plan. A Local Green Space designation in a neighbourhood plan is the most durable protection available to a community, and it is secured through plan making rather than through objection. Where green infrastructure provision across a settlement is in issue, a Green Infrastructure Plan is the document that sets out the network and the gaps.

Start with the question about how the land is held. Everything else depends on the answer.

This is general guidance, not legal advice. Check the position with your local planning authority or a qualified professional before relying on it. PlanScope provides AI-assisted draft reports for planning applications. Reports should be reviewed before submission. We do not guarantee planning approval.